#i gen can't believe we're the same age

[loveyni]

ni-ki is for ,,,

heeseung • jay • jake • sunghoon • sunoo • jungwon • ni-ki!!

a/n. the people wanted riki so here he is <3 enjoy ^^

୨୧₊˚⊹ᡣ𐭩⋆ ──

ni-ki is for those who snicker playfully when their friends scream at jumpscares in horror films (i know it's actually to distract yourself from how scared you are... i do it this too ><).

ni-ki is for those who struggle to show affection towards those closest to them, opting for unconventional ways to do so.

ni-ki is for those who are grasping at the last of their teenage years, not wanting to grow up and lose the essence of life (you're still allowed to have fun when you're an adult!!).

ni-ki is for those are particularly interested in true crime and the psychology behind why perpetrators do what they do.

ni-ki is for those who pick up new skills so quickly that it's almost frightening how naturally capable they are.

ni-ki is for those who love attending amusement parks and finding any reason for it to be socially acceptable to scream at the top of their lungs.

ni-ki is for those possess a true admiration and understanding of anything related to the arts (which means you're also probably involved in at least one form of it, do tell ^^).

ni-ki is for those who should allow themselves to let down the walls they've built up because they don't have to be alone anymore.

── ୨୧₊˚⊹ᡣ𐭩⋆

🖇️ taglist: @itjengirl @laurradoesloveu @river-demon-slayer

[simslegacy5083]

Not So Berry (Straud Descendants) Gen 9

Today's (8/23/2024) Episode: Gaming and Goodbyes

As everyone settled down for dinner after Skye aged up, Luigi snagged a seat across from Jade and wasted no time launching into 20 questions. 

"I'm one of the only sims around here who believes in The Watcher" he told her, "other than some real crackpots on the internet anyway." He shuddered. "So, what's it like for you, living under their direct influence? My Papa always said The Watcher could control just about anything but if that's true the one around here has a sick sense of humor!"

He then went on to describe some of the many misfortunes that had befallen him and Noemi in the past.

"Oh…my…that's a lot " was all Jade could think to say when he'd finally wound down. Well, Isra did warn me… she thought before responding.

"I don't think our Watcher controls everything. For example, my mom's friend Summer died quite unexpectedly recently, it was really hard on her. Being a legacy family may mean The Watcher keeps a closer eye on us, but in general more crazy things happen when we're around, not less!" 

"Do you know the legacy family here?" she asked "Isra and Par haven’t heard of one, but I thought The Watcher had favorites in every nation.”

"Well, actually…" Luigi began, before Noemi cut him off. "No. We've never heard anyone even mention a legacy family." she said, glaring at him. 

Jade could tell she'd stepped in something with her question, though she wasn't sure what. Now more ready than ever to extract herself from the awkward conversation she rose "It was nice chatting with you, but I think I'm going to go inside and get out of this heat for awhile."

"Hey! If we’re going inside, I’ll fire up the gaming console and start the real fun.” Rhys said. "Anyone else ready to join us?”

“You know that’s my jam." Luigi stood too, causing Jade to suppress a groan. At least if we’re playing he’ll stop talking so much! she thought.

“My foot has a prior appointment with Darth’s ass," Beau chimed in “Just give me a minute to visit the bathroom for the hundredth time today first." 

After a great session of gaming with the chatty e-sports pros Jade was almost sorry to see them off at the end of the night. “It was great to meet you, kid” Luigi told her. “Sorry about all that doom and gloom earlier. I have a tendency to get wrapped up in myself, but you were a trooper about it, and a pretty good video gamer to boot! If you decide to explore a career in E-Sports look me up, I can introduce you to some people.”

“I’ll do that” Jade fibbed, trying to be nice despite having no interest in becoming a professional nerd herself. “It was nice to meet you too.”

“Luigi, I know you believe yourself to be a legacy heir the same as Jade's sister and mother do, but we both know that isn't a "thing" here." Noemi reminded him once they’d returned home. "I thought we agreed we were going to keep that little piece of Lawbourne lore to ourselves." 

Luigi sighed "I know. I just got so excited meeting someone from another legacy; I got carried away. Thank you for reining me in, as usual."

"Happy to do it" she chuckled “now, how about you get Skye to bed while I get started on my latest side project? This one wants all their phone icons updated to penguins! The things sims come up with to do with technology…"

"Thank you again, so much, for having me. I had a blast!" Jade gushed the following morning. "I've got the pictures we took, the gifts you made for everyone, and your donation for Sims United in my inventory. I'm sure everyone will love them." 

"It was so wonderful to see you again" Wren smiled "I'll be stalking you on social media; I can't wait to see those graduation photos!"

Isra chimed in, “All Elyse wanted to talk about this morning was how much she loved hanging with "silly Auntie J!“, making Jade blush happily.

"I'll be sure to send along any fun kid appropriate memes I find for you to share with my little nieces and nephew.“ After one final hug and kiss she headed towards the teleporter that would take her home, her family watching her retreating back until she blinked out of sight.

Once Jade had disappeared back to her homeland Isra’s quietly weeping par buried their face in her shoulder and whispered, “It was wonderful to see her, but so hard to watch her go.”

“I know” Isra agreed “You want to come home with me and give your grandbabies a snuggle?"

Wren nodded, grateful for Isra’s loving support as they stepped out into the warm paradise of a sunny Sulani day.

View The Full Story of My Not So Berry Challenge Here

[destinygoldenstar]

AnalyzGolden Ranks Every Disventure Camp Season 2 Character

I'm ranking every Season 2 character in Disventure Camp.

I've actually been hyped to do this one, believe it or not.

Even though I think I prefer the Season 1 Cast, the Season 2 Cast actually has a lot going for them. There's quite a few interesting contenders here.

This show is actually pretty decent at handling its characters and getting you a good taste of who they are and why they're here.

I don't want to sell Total Drama short, because obviously that's iconic, and its characters are iconic, but all that show needed to do was make its characters funny with their gimmicks and only a handful were dynamic and/or complex.

Here it's more focused on the arc and their situations instead of their comedy. I can see that being a double edge sword to some, because if characters aren't being funny you just get a ton of angst instead and then the show itself becomes less fun to watch...?

Like, I can see that.

But idk, I might have a kink for angst, so it doesn't bother me.

Keep in mind this entire ranking is just MY opinion based on how I viewed things. So... HOT TAKE ALERT(?????)

Idk, maybe I'm basic and all my faves are the fan faves. Idk.

There's no such thing as taking a tier list objectively.

This order ISN'T based off of elimination order. Because I have A LOT more to say about the Post Merge characters than the Pre Merge characters. So I wanted to space it out. So it's random.

So let's get into it!

Who are we starting with...?

CONNOR

?

...I mean, I did say this was random. But it still feels weird to start with this one.

Whatever. We're starting with the old man.

I think the biggest reaction I had towards Connor was his elimination.

"I'll leave voluntarily."

...

Why...? Why would you do that?

You could've all worked together to get Yul out.

I'm not mad. Just disappointed.

Oh who am I kidding? I'm pissed off.

And I hated it.

That episode was a double elimination. Which, yeah, I guess that needed to happen, but the way he just quit like that really gave me NO respect. And it told me that this was just a filler character and they had no plans for him.

YES I KNOW HE DID IT FOR RIYA'S SAFETY. I KNOW HE DIDN'T CARE ABOUT THE MILLION. I DON'T CARE. THEY COULD'VE WORKED WITH THE POLYCULE TO GET YUL OUT.

Outside of THAT, however, there really isn't a lot to say about Connor. His screen time is so minimal that if he wasn't associated with Riya, nobody would see him as a memorable character.

He just didn't really do anything aside from be Riya's friend, and give Oliver a job offer, which went nowhere cause he got back with Krystal in the same scene.

You only care about Connor because Riya cares about Connor.

I can't really say there's anything to HATE about him though.

He's a nice guy with very good intentions. He just wants to hang out with the kids and feel young again, and not come to terms of his age and his new role in life. That's wholesome and sweet. And I'm sure that relates to plenty of Gen X people.

But I'm not Gen X, so...

Idk, I think the biggest disappointment is how minimal his arc was and how minimal he was utilized. I like the idea of an older figure trying to fit in with the younger generation. But they don't really do anything with it.

I think there was, like, TWO SCENES in the FIRST episode and nowhere else, where Connor tried to bond with a Millennial character but didn't understand the gen's lifestyle.

Two scenes that also didn't go anywhere, cause this is the only time he ever interacts with those characters.

And then two conversations with Riya later, and he's cool with being a mentor now and he's come to terms with his age.

Two talks with one person does not equal a fully fleshed out satisfying character arc, bucko.

Idk, I think if Connor had more screen time, he would've worked for me better. But as is, he's just there as a support character.

I will say I do like his friendship with Riya though, even if that's all he ended up being here for. It was nice seeing Riya bonding with someone in a similar culture shock situation as her. And his perfume gift for her and his goodbye to her was genuinely really wholesome.

Again, you care about him because Riya cares about him, and he's basically all Riya has left now because everyone else hates her.

I saw a comment on my reactions about a ship name. Uh... I don't ship these two. I don't really like it because of the age gap. (29/50) I like them much better as friends.

I'll give him a C Tier.

Yes I'm putting these on my Season 1 Tier list as well. We're combining the two.

And the one I'm using has the All Stars variations. So I'll use those for All Stars too.

AIDEN

Okay, so I spoiled this one in a post already, so I'm just gonna start with the ranking.

I think Aiden is a solid B tier character.

I just realized EVERYONE whose name starts with A is in the B tier. Uh... wow. That's ironic.

I actually LOVE Aiden's character... CONCEPTUALLY.

A trans boy who altered his appearance to appeal to the show and get casted, and due to these things, isn't very confident in his identity.

THAT IS GREAT AND THAT MAKES ME ROOT FOR HIM.

I LOVE that Aiden is trans. 🏳️‍⚧️

Trans rep is so rare as is, so any trans rep that isn't a gross stereotype is a win in my book.

The scene where he comes out as trans is also very well done and very sweet. I liked it.

I also LOVE his character design.

The half and half black and white hair is very visually striking, and the addition of the black and white stripes on his sleeves adds to compliment it so your attention is on the top half of his body. And the red shirt is such a strong center piece. It also tells you about his character as someone who went hard and out there in the appearance department to appeal to others.

AMAZING character design. Really.

Aiden himself is also very likeable and sympathetic. I felt for him when he got used by James and I wanted to see him come to his own. He's also flawed, like, he has some anger issues and a grudge problem, but it's in a way that's endearing and never really annoyed me.

I feel like he and Jake would be great friends.

And most of this shines from me due to the voice acting.

The voice acting in this season... really is not that good. I don't think anyone is arguing in its favor aside from "It's an indie show, cut them some slack." And they do get better as the series goes on.

Aiden's VA is the one exception. From beginning to end, this guy is AMAZING voicing the character and making you invested in him and what he's feeling.

...and unfortunately that's where the positives end.

Yeah, as much as I like Aiden, I feel like more than any of these other B tiers, he is WASTED POTENTIAL.

And you KNOW I mean that, BECAUSE HE IS A FINALIST.

As much as I like his concept, they don't really DO anything with it.

That scene where he comes out as trans? That's in Episode ELEVEN.

...OF THIRTEEN.

There was ONE hint outside of that which alluded to him being trans prior to that.

In Episode 4, it's a confession challenge where they have to confess to harsh truths about themselves. Krystal asks which one of them had sex reassignment surgery, and nobody answers that question.

This question does not get brought up again until Aiden comes out and confirms that question was talking about him. Again, in Episode ELEVEN OF THIRTEEN.

At that point, the trans rep kinda just feels like lip service. They did the bare minimum to get this trans rep in.

Now, I'm not saying a character's queer identity should be the only thing about their character that matters. No. Not at all.

What I'm saying is that I wanted this to matter to Aiden's story more than it appears it does. Because of what his character is.

Using subtext, it's heavily implied that Aiden's lack of faith in his abilities comes from his trans identity and the fact that nobody found him interesting, attractive, or appealing. Especially not the show. So he altered himself to appeal to what other people wanted. (His appearance, I mean, not his sex.)

But he never talks about it outside of Episode 4 and that coming out scene. I would've personally have had the coming out scene two or three episodes earlier. Because at least then you could have a lot more healthy interactions with James.

Speaking of, because of that coming out scene being associated with James, as sweet as that scene is still, and the fact that the subject is minimal as is, tells me that Aiden's individual struggles and growth IS NOT what matters to the story.

Whether or not he'll smooch James is what matters.

Yeah... these two didn't work for me. I'm sorry.

You know why I found Aiden sympathetic? Because he had to be stuck with THIS MOTHERFUCKER the entire time.

I'll get to James later, but for now I'll just address the relationship.

I will say, they're not AS BAD as I made them out to be in my reactions. James DOES get better and DOES become a better person. And the scene where they make up is very well done. They have SOME good and sweet interactions. Even if I can count them all on my hand.

So I GET IT. I UNDERSTAND why you'd ship them. Because ON PAPER, this is a GREAT 'they hate each other until they love each other and grow from each other' story. It's just the execution that rubbed me off the wrong way.

Especially at the start of the show, James has some pretty predatory behavior towards Aiden and exploits him for internet views. (Like seriously was that supposed to be a plot twist? I figured out that was what he was doing from the first episode.) He does a lot of stuff that Aiden is uncomfortable with, lies to him to get him to do what he wants, and influences Aiden to do some very impulsive messed up things.

Combine that with James' hostility towards other people, and you have the bad outweighing the good in my head.

Which is a problem, because the finale has them as your HEROES, and them getting together is the happy ending. It's a problem if I am therefore routing AGAINST their relationship prior to that finale.

Again, James DOES get better, so it's NOT AS BAD AS IT COULD HAVE BEEN.

SIERRA AND CODY ARE TEN TIMES WORSE. And if you asked me to pick James/Aiden or Sierra/Cody, I would take James/Aiden in a heartbeat.

I just personally found the beginning behavior James had towards Aiden, lusting over this clearly uncomfortable and introverted trans boy, and exploiting him for Internet fame, very GROSS.

I UNDERSTAND THAT'S THE POINT. But, idk, I would've just preferred them mutually not liking each other at first and then growing to like each other and then becoming lovers. You didn't need this predatory stuff. Just have Riya be lying about James' exploits, idk.

I also found Episode 9 kinda gross for Aiden. (Though I feel like I should rewatch that Episode just because of my condition when I watched it.)

Karol returns and wants revenge on James and Aiden. James warns Aiden with proof to back up his claim. And what does Aiden do?

He puts a trap on Karol's sled to stop her from winning the race.

This causes Karol to crash her sled and end up in the hospital due to a broken leg.

And Aiden not only proceeds to continue to yell at Karol, AS SHE IS HURT ON THE GROUND, but James also PRAISES Aiden's actions as something to be proud of.

I'M SORRY, WHAT PART OF SENDING SOMEONE TO THE HOSPITAL IS THERE TO BE PROUD OF?

Yes I get Karol was gunning for you. STILL. What was wrong with just voting her out? You had the numbers!

Yes I know Aiden said he 'didn't mean to hurt Karol' when he did that. But, I'm sorry, you're sledding down a mountain without safety equipment. WHY DID YOU THINK THAT WOULDN'T HURT HER?

James ALSO does this. He does this towards Yul. (Even though I loved that one.)

So these two got not one, but TWO PEOPLE SENT TO THE HOSPITAL. AND THEY GET NO CONSEQUENCES.

Listen, murder is wrong, battery is wrong. Riya tries to kill Aiden. Karol kills everyone. But you know why I didn't take much problem with that? THESE CHARACTERS ARE VILLAINS.

BUT SURE, LET'S HAVE OUR HEROIC POWER COUPLE DO THE SAME THINGS, INSTANCES THAT ACTUALLY GET MEDICAL CONSEQUENCES FOR THOSE PEOPLE.

WHAT A GREAT LESSON. /s

This is part of Aiden's 'gaining confidence' arc by the way. He learns that murder is okay.

I guess murder and battery is bad only if you're a woman? It's okay if the boys do it?

WHAT A GREAT LESSON. /s

THAT'S NOT PROBLEMATIC AT ALL. /s

And that all leads to my biggest gripe with Aiden.

He is James' love interest. And that's the only thing that matters.

He has a relationship with TWO characters. Lake, and ESPECIALLY James.

His friendship with Lake is supposedly this tight bond, and I like it on paper, but it's so underbaked to give me that impression.

I think there was like, THREE SCENES TOTAL where these two talk. And only ONE of those scenes was them learning about each other.

Those other two scenes? It's a conversation about JAMES.

Idk, even if I count those two scenes, THREE TALKS DOES NOT EQUAL A STRONG FRIENDSHIP IN MY BOOK.

Aside from THAT, Aiden ONLY interacts with James. Any time he is NOT directly interacting with James, any other character he talks to is either a conversation about James and his feelings towards James, or meant to serve James in some way.

Again, there is ONE conversation with Lake where that's not the case. But that's it.

IT'S ALL ABOUT HOW HE FEELS ABOUT JAMES. THAT'S ALL THAT MATTERS. THAT'S ALL YOU'RE TELLING ME.

I don't like it when a character is meant to be a love interest and that's all they serve to do.

Say what you will about Jake and Tom. They're messy and I don't deny that. BUT they are also strong characters on their own and can function on their own. AND they have relationships with characters that aren't each other. Tom is friends with Gabby. Jake WAS friends with Ellie. Tom and Jake both care for Miriam. Jake especially cares about Miriam. I got WAY MORE out of Jake and Miriam's bond than I did with Aiden and Lake's.

It also HURTS when in the finale, that's all Aiden serves to be in the end. To smooch James and help James win.

Aiden doesn't feel confident in himself to beat Riya, so he decides James should go do it instead. Meaning his so called arc about confidence meant nothing.

He doesn't even get to glide down the mountain. Like, I don't expect him to completely get over his fear of heights. But I felt like he could've sucked it up then and there at least.

Personally, I would've had James help Aiden win. I would've swapped the roles. Because then that not only showcased Aiden coming to his own to believe in himself and have that pay off, but it also sends a message and sacrifice for James that fame doesn't matter to him anymore. Then the 'money can't buy love' message to oppose Riya with HITS HARDER.

They can still share the money in the end. And with Rosa.

BUT NO. AIDEN NEEDS TO SERVE JAMES. HE CAN'T DO ANYTHING ON HIS OWN.

Sounds reasonable, right?

Well no. Not according to some of you.

I actually LOVE that you made this reply. I love seeing people disagree with me. It's fun. And you were respectful about it. Good for you!

(ANYONE can do this whenever you disagree with me btw. If you're respectful about it like this person is, then go right ahead and voice your take!)

All I will say is that I read it, and I SEE where you're coming from. But respectfully, I don't agree with it. For all the reasons I just said.

Like, no offense, but anyone could've told Lake to hit the canon to help James win, and the same results would've happened. That's not a very revolutionary Aiden action.

If you like this ship though, more power to you. Just because I don't like it doesn't mean it's a bad ship and it doesn't mean you shouldn't like it. James/Aiden shippers are really cool in my book!

I'll just be in my little corner holding Tom and Jake close. Even if I am the only one.

So yeah, I like Aiden, but I wish he was handled differently and I cared about his bond with James a lot more.

I hope he's in Season 3 and not on the same team as James. Then he can interact with other characters AND he can come to his own. I would like that!

MAGGY

Uuuuuuuuuhhhhh…. What’s there to say about her?

I actually don’t remember ANYTHING about her.

She is THAT much of a nothing character.

She’s shy.

She’s bullied for being a big girl.

She doesn’t have any arc or any development or any depth to her situation besides that.

And she loses to her bully.

She also does nothing in the episode she’s eliminated in.

I mean she punches Yul in the face. So just for that, I can’t say I dislike her.

She also is with Kai. But idk, that relationship is just “They crush, they hook.” End of story. No middle.

And then they run away in the woods to be freaky. Or whatever.

Sure. Whatever makes you happy.

C Tier. Nothing to say.

Unfortunately bottom of C tier because at least the rest of these guys contribute something to the plot.

Maggy contributes NOTHING.

But she punched Yul in the face and gave him a black eye. So I can’t hate her.

LAKE

When I was reacting to Season Two, I kept getting messages gushing about how good Lake is.

You all seem to really love this one.

Well… after watching Season Two for myself… I gotta say…

YEP. SHES AWESOME.

I am very much on your side with this one!

Like, this is easily the character with the most concrete dynamic character arc. Especially the one where it's the most solidly handled.

Like, I may LIKE a certain someone more, but I have to admit they kinda take a backseat in the middle of the sesaon.

Lake however? Every episode she's in, there's something that's progressing her story. As such, she stands out pretty quickly.

She was kind of a screen hog ngl XD

But I like her character, so it's okay.

Lake is a sweet teenage girl who is a major perfectionist. She is always studying, even during the summer ON REALITY TV, and she has an alarmingly strict diet.

But it's clear early on that one of this is from Lake's own free will. Her family is a bunch of control freaks who want her to be this prim and proper perfect person.

They set up several tutors for her to make essays and study, to the point where she has little to no free time for herself. They're homophobic. They forced a ton of eating disorders upon her. They even set up an ARRANGED MARRIAGE.

IN THE PRESENT DAY. AN ARRANGED MARRIAGE.

Yeah, no shock it's fucked up.

It was such a fucked up way to live that Lake straight up lost her natural hair. She wears wigs. And her parents chose what wig she would wear.

You'd think your child going bald from stress would set some alarm bells that you're a bad parent and you should lay off, but apparently not.

It's also clear from a handful of lines and from some facial expressions that Lake resents this lifestyle, but she really doesn't say anything or do anything about it because, well, she's a kid. She's been brainwashed to believe this was the best path for her when it's not.

I love her fight with Rosa in Episode 4 when Rosa calls out Lake's parents behavior of her. I love how Lake doesn't immediately pull her face turn to go against her parents and comes to their defense. She even says "Fuck this show, who cares?" At one point which was fun to hear from her.

Well, she doesn't say fuck. She's a good girl. But you know what I mean.

Lake should be allowed to swear.

Anyway, point is, I like how she doesn't immediately learn the lesson from the first time someone calls it out. She needs to figure that out for herself.

In a way, Episode 5's boring as all hell and needlessly hellish challenge was kinda smart. Especially if you consider what we've been told about Lake's homelife thus far, it does feel like a bit like it would send some flashbacks.

And let me tell you, I'VE BEEN THERE. I'VE BEEN THERE SO ANY TIMES.

I had a pretty horrible school life growing up. There was a lot of rules and pressure that didn't even need to be there, and kids and adults alike really got a kick out of it. And there were several times where I started crying from being unable to take it anymore.

So seeing Lake break down here and tell Krystal off was so heartbreaking but also so satisfying because it's Krystal.

And I like how despite expressing that hatred towards Krystal prior, she still takes the time to empathize with her and bond with her over their messed up families.

Lake isn't a bad apple. She's a genuinely good kid.

And her empathy here is rewarded by Krystal letting her stay and carve her own path.

And she does.

But you know what I love? Is that even though this is a 'good girl rebelling against her good girl status', it DOESN'T mean she becomes a more brash and defiant person. *Cough* COURTNEY.

She's still a very decent and nice person. She's just more independent.

I also like how she became an author. That's wonderful for her.

I also love her friendship with Rosa throughout the show. Like, I buy that she's besties with Rosa a lot more than I believe it with Aiden, I'm sorry. I loved watching them bond over Rosa's astronomy interest and writing and little things like that. I love seeing their friendship get challenged and resolved due to Lake's familial pressure. It also shows that Rosa CAN'T help everyone and they need to figure some things out themselves.

This is a really strong bond these two have, and it's very sweet to see unfold.

I wasn't sure how I'd feel about Lake having wigs. But I ended up really liking it.

I love the contrast from her straight proper and neat blonde hair at the start of the series, and then when she rebels, she switches to a more vibrant loud crimson red bob cut that of a punk.

The change actually says something about her character, and I really like that.

Do I think she should have won the season?

Uh... not really...?

Like, I love her, but I am perfectly okay with her not being a winner pick or even a finalist pick. Lake did not need to be a finalist for her story to hit. It doesn't matter to her if she won the money or not. What she wanted was her freedom. A chance to be herself. THAT'S her victory right there.

MONEY IS NOT THE ONLY VICTORY.

So girl WON.

I was just upset with the episode she was eliminated in, because SHE SHOULD HAVE WON THAT CHALLENGE. SHE WAS THE LAST ONE STANDING. IT WAS NOT FAIR.

Now that I'm thinking about it and talking about her, I'm putting her at the very top of S tier ahead of the other Season 1 characters on that tier.

CAUSE DAMN. THIS GIRL WAS AWESOME.

I can TOTALLY see what the hype with her was all about.

LIVE LAUGH LOVE LAKE INDEED!

KAI

I'm not gonna lie, this guy creeps me out.

"I find it calming to share a space with someone who emits such good energy. I can almost feel it in the air."

Okay you're a creep...

~~~

"I observed your good intentions with others, even though your vibrations feel somewhat turbulent."

I can't with this guy's voice and creepy implications, help.

"The universe said you should know."

"You should knooooooooowwwww. It will haunt you for the rest of your days, oooooooooooooooo."

Dude, you're a creep.

~~~

"I felt some pretty erratic vibes coming from you."

Erratic?!

I don't think you'd want to say that to someone. Maybe that's just me.

~~~

"No man, I don't do drugs... too much..."

WHAT THE HELL?!

THE FACT THAT YOU DO DRUGS AT ALL.

SO YEAH.

This guy comes in, he's getting up in people's businesses and making them feel exposed, AND HE SUPPOSEDLY DOES DRUGS.

WHO THE HELL IS THIS GUY?!

Like, this is by far the most 'WTF' character of this entire cast.

Just... WTF?!

And it doesn't even stop when he gets eliminated because then he goes to LIVE IN THE WOODS WITH A GIRL.

WTF?!

This man just creeps me out, and I cannot for the like of me take him seriously.

I'm also a bit disappointed that this plotline went nowhere.

Like, when they were showing where Kai and Maggy were after they were eliminated, I was expecting them to play a role in the finale, like using their zen powers to aid in the finale...

...but no.

Oh, I'm sorry, they DID, but they 'made Aiden happy'.

Cool... James totally wouldn't have apologized without you guys....

...yeah I'm saying that doesn't count.

This guy just creeps me out and I can't for the like of me take him seriously.

He also has THE WORST voice of the entire cast.

Like, I don't want to be too mean to the voice acting of this season. I get it. And they do get better as the show goes on. Especially the mic quality, cause in the first episode? GOOD LORD...

But Kai? He's just straight up hard to listen to. There's little to no emotion in anything he says, he has this very raspy voice so it's hard to understand what he's saying if you don't have subtitles on, the mic is especially bad with him, and the sleezy tone just makes some of his dialogue a whole lot creepier.

Every time this man speaks, my immersion of the scene gets dropped HARD.

Again, no hate to the VA. I get it.

What else...?

Oh yeah. There's one more thing.

This man DID do one AMAZING thing that now lives in my head rent free, and that I thank him for dearly.

And that is him, of course, READING YUL FOR FILTH.

"YES! YES I DO YOU MISERABLE PIECE OF SHIT!"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHH

GET HIM

"If you were a real man, you would realize how beautiful Maggy is! Her soul is so pure and her heart is so big that it would imitate the sun on a rainy day! But of course an idiot son of a bitchfucker could never notice it!"

😂👏

YEEEEEEESSS

"I'm sure you don't have any friends and your parents only sent you here to keep you entertained and get away from you for awhile! Sure now that you're not there, they're finally happy and I don't blame them! After all, all their son is, is just a piece of shit asshole motherfucker!"

YEEEEEESSSS

😂👏

GET. HIS. ASS.

GET HIS ASS DUDE.

READ THIS MAN FOR FILTH.

Like... DUDE. I RESPECT THE HELL OUT OF YOU FOR THAT.

You are C Tier, but you are an upper C Tier, which is a higher spot than you would have been otherwise.

Like... yeah this is in order. Better than Maggy? Yeah, because I feel something with him.

Better than Jensen? Yeah. Better than Derek? Yeah. Better than Will? Yeah. Better than Drew? Yeah.

I don't think he's better than Connor just because of Connor's friendship with Riya being so much more important to the story than whatever the hell Kai was doing.

Ninjago Kai is a much better character, but props to DC Kai for bringing justice where it belongs for that one scene.

ALLYSON

Btw, I know everyone calls her Ally in the show.

I call her Allyson personally, which is her full first name.

The reason why is a peeve I have with two characters in the same media having names that sound way too similar to each other.

And since these two casts do merge at one point, THIS DOES COUNT. Her name is way too close to Ellie, and I don't like that.

Same reason why I nicknamed Lill Lilly.

SO I AM CALLING HER ALLYSON, AND NO I AM NOT GOING TO HEAR CRITICISM ON THAT.

Anyway, now we can actually talk about Allyson.

Uh... she's there? I guess? I mean obviously she's there, she's a merge character.

I would say I like her though. She's really cute. I like her conceptually and that she's a gamer girl.

It's something I feel like the TDI Reboot WOULD do if they did do it.

The fact that she bonds with people through playing video games is really cute and solid characterization on what kind of person she is.

I like her off the wall way of solving problems.

She dances to stay awake. She makes a snowboard instead of a sled.

She's an outside the box thinker and she don't care what anyone thinks about her. It's really nice to have a character so sure of themselves like this.

I also really enjoy her bond with Tess. She starts off hesitant of the girl because of her crush on Hunter, but then grows to really care for Tess and help her out.

I think Allyson and Tess have better chemistry with each other than they do with Hunter, but that's just me.

(Tess/Allyson shipper?)

But I don't hate the choice to make it a polyamory instead. In fact I love the idea of a polyamory situation. You don't really see that rep anywhere.

So I DO like Allyson.

But... idk, she's kinda hard to talk about.

This is mostly because she's one of the more subtle and mundane characters compared to others. That's NOT a bad thing. But I grasp onto characters with a more emotional range a lot better.

Like, they really could have went all the way with her gamer girl concept and made her really geeky if they wanted.

But I can also kinda understand why they wouldn't want to do that, because then she would probably sound like a Gen Alpha brainrot YouTuber. And that would turn people off. So if that's the case, I would prefer her to be more normal.

That, and she also has the same issue Aiden has, and that her purpose in the story is to be a love interest for Hunter.

It's not as bad as Aiden's case, because again, she DOES have interactions with other characters that aren't Hunter. Tess especially. But Aiden is also a character with more emotional range, so that's why Allyson is lower than him despite that.

Allyson and Hunter are actually really cute. They're a nice pair and they have some cute chemistry.

And again, I really like how this love triangle ENDS, with it becoming a polyamory.

I was fully expecting this to end with Hunter choosing one of them. Expecting him to choose Allyson cause she was the one more open towards her feelings...? I guess...? That's what a lot of love triangle stories do.

UNLESS THEY'RE A HELLHOLE- *COUGH*

But NO. POLYAMORY REP. I LOVE IT.

But before that, it gets a bit dragged with the girls just waiting for Hunter to come clean about what he's feeling. And Allyson gets a bit paranoid in some parts, which would be annoying if it was exaggerated to be fair.

What I found awkward is that in Episode 9, where Allyson is eliminated, Hunter kisses her, and despite her admitting to wanting him romantically, she rejects the gesture and leaves him in the dust.

Like huh...? Girl, you wanted him this entire time. And when you get him you reject him?

I mean, I guess he DID say wait till the game was over, and she didn't want to hurt or betray Tess, so okay...

Another thing I found kinda off was her random tragic backstory she drops in Episode 7.

Her grandfather taught her everything she knows about gaming, and then he passed away three months ago prior to the show. She came to the show to escape that grief.

Cool...?

She and Jake would be besties.

But like, it came COMPLETELY OUT OF NOWHERE. There was NO sign she was grieving anyone's death. And she NEVER mentions or even HINTS at this before OR after this.

It just feels so random and so tacked on.

If the tragic backstory isn't going to affect the character in any way? Why even give them a tragic backstory, you know?

At least Jake's story about his grandma MATTERED to his character. We saw his grief with her. He told the audience a bit about his time with her and what she meant to him. It was a major playing factor in him bonding with Miriam. Which was VERY IMPORTANT for both of those characters.

It wasn't just a tacked on backstory for sympathy points, it played a key factor in the story's events.

With Allyson, it's just... there. Remove it, and nothing changes. We don't get any insight on her from this. It doesn't affect her relationship with Hunter or Tess at all.

I'd give Allyson a low B tier. Unfortunately kinda bordering C.

She's cute. I like her.

I would want to see her again, but just cause I think they could do more with her than what they did.

Flesh out that backstory more. Show off her gamer personality. Show off how that aids the people around her.

Do that, and she can go a lot higher.

KAROL

Oh boy, this one...

So, she's an Eva rip off.

She has anger issues. She gets eliminated in the sleep deprivation challenge. She comes back. And she gets eliminated the very next time she is able to be so.

So yeah, Eva rip off.

I rarely say that because this show is really good at making their own original characters. And similarities are really minimal so it's not very blatant.

Like, are you gonna say Gwen and Tess are the same character because they both wear all black? Come on now.

With Karol though? It's just really obvious.

I thought they were doing something with her in Episode 2 when they revealed she's an animal caretaker and she has a hard time bonding with people because of it. Which is a lot more than what Eva got already.

But then she gets used by James to be an elimination, and she spends the rest of her screen time bitching about James and Aiden.

Does James deserve it? Yes.

But she directs most of it towards AIDEN. Who let's be frank, was ALSO used.

It kinda gets a bit annoying. The only reason I wasn't totally against her was because again, JAMES deserves consequences.

She plays the serial killer and murders everybody to return to the game. Her first priority is to target James and Aiden out of revenge.

Cool! We have an antagonist!

But then she crashes her sled because of Aiden and she has to be medically evacuated. Before she could do anything.

...what was the point of bringing her back...?

I mean, okay, she DOES have a reason to come back. She's a player in Riya's character development and the advice she gives to her is very important to that storyline.

But, idk, SHE COULD'VE DONE SOMETHING ELSE.

So... yeah I don't think she was a good character. She's not horrible. The animal thing is pretty sweet. She's just kinda unpleasant.

OH SHIT... JAMES

James James James James James.

I mean, WHERE THE FUCK DO I EVEN BEGIN?!

THIS IS THE BEST CHARACTER, OBVIOUSLY.

DID YOU SEE WHAT HE DID TO YUL?

MAD RESPECT. MAD RESPECT.

DUDE JUST WENT OUT OF HIS WAY TO POISON THAT BITCH TO GET HIM OUT OF MY SIGHT.

LOVE. NOTHING BUT LOVE.

Okay, now I rank him for real.

I went on a roller coaster of emotions regarding this character.

1-4, I didn't like him.

Episode 5, LOVED HIM CAUSE OF WHAT HE DID.

Episode 6-8, he was okay.

Then 9 onward I went right back to not liking him.

Some of you might then say it's very obvious where I'm placing him.

I didn't like that he won. I prefer Miriam's win. I would've preferred it if Aiden won. Or Rosa won. Or Riya won.

I don't like characters that have predatory behavior. I hate Sierra for this exact reason. The only time I don't mind it is if the character is a villain. But James isn't a villain. He ends up being our hero in the end.

So no sir, I don't like that he won a million bucks.

And I already expressed my distaste for James/Aiden's relationship.

So there. Low tier ranking. Right?

Well...

Actually, it's not that simple.

Out of everyone, this is the most "Where the hell do I rank this one?"

I do confess: I may have been too mean to this character.

Because everything I don't like about James is... kinda the point.

He's an unlikable hero. A jerk protagonist. He's supposed to start off the season sleezy and arrogant and dislikable. But as the season goes on, through trial and error and the power of love, he becomes humbled and develops into a much better person by the end. To the point where you DO root for him.

That IS his story. And I understand that now that I have watched the whole thing and processed it.

And upon reflection, you CAN see that arc very clearly.

The reason he poisons Yul is because he was targeting Aiden. Even if he doesn't want to admit then and there that was why he did it.

When he loses wifi in Episode 6 he becomes erratic, but by the end of the episode when he gets it back, he doesn't use it and instead spends time with Aiden.

Aiden asked him to confront him about schemes, and he actually obliges.

And of course, his apology in the finale.

THE ARC IS THERE. I SEE IT. I ABSOLUTELY SEE IT.

And honestly, I do RESPECT the arc and what James is supposed to be. IT'S A GOOD ARC. And they do show it in a pretty decent way.

It's just... idk, subjectively speaking, it's the execution that gets me.

He just does too much stuff that rubs ME off the wrong way, and thus it's hard for me to root for him at the end.

One, again, PREDATORY BEHAVIOR.

From the beginning, this man has his eyes set on Aiden and exploits him for Internet Fame. Even though he constantly says no. He keeps getting up in Aiden's business without his consent. And he keeps making lustful eyes at him.

Then he uses Aiden for a scheme to get rid of Karol. Something he DID NOT CONSENT TO. Aiden gets pissed and votes James in that Tribal Council.

But according to the show, Aiden is the one in the wrong because Aiden had a temper problem.

NO, AIDEN HAD EVERY RIGHT TO BE MAD.

I mean I GUESS James apologized. EXCEPT NOT REALLY...?

"No I'm just saying that to... apologize."

Oh?

"I don't regret having strategized in the game, but..."

Oh, no, he's not apologizing for shit. He's just making a scene.

That just told me that he had NO remorse for what he did to Karol.

And also, his apology there was about 'not including Aiden in his schemes'. One, he did, in Episode 2. Second, if he's talking about honesty here, WHAT IF AIDEN DOESN'T WANT TO SCHEME?

If Aiden ever said "NO. I don't want to do this." James is still gonna do it.

That's what that was telling me.

And then he straight up S/A's Aiden.

WHICH IS A BIG NO NO FOR ME.

And then he poisons Yul. Which, I LOVE THAT CAUSE THAT WAS YUL.

But IGNORING MY OPINION ON THE PERSON WHO GOT POISONED FOR A SECOND, it's pretty fucked of him to do.

You could've just, idk, swapped out the mushroom for breadcrumbs? Yul was going to be eliminated anyway. You didn't need to poison him to get him out of the picture.

What if Yul DIED from this? YOUR ASS WOULD BE IN JAIL.

Hell, your ass should be in jail for poisoning him ALONE.

But I guess it's fine because James gets no consequences for doing this.

Then he also sleeps with Aiden before he got consent to do that. And Aiden never really said in that scene it was fine. But compared to the others so far it's the least bad.

What does bother me is that we see that he posted a photo of Aiden in his sleep on the Internet later in the season. Which is messed up cause again, NO CONSENT. AIDEN NEVER SAID THAT WAS OKAY.

And then Karol comes back and she wants revenge on James and Aiden. And even though James DID ABSOLUTELY HURT HER, he is still portrayed in the episode as the good guy who did nothing wrong. And Karol is just 'overreacting.'

Which, SHE IS. I will give it that. BUT STILL. JAMES HURT HER IN THE FIRST PLACE. But NOT ONCE, does he EVER show remorse for that.

Instead when he tells Aiden and Aiden sabotages Karol and gets her hospitalized, JAMES PRAISES THIS.

DUDE. SHE'S IN THE HOSPITAL NOW. THIS ISN'T SOMETHING TO ENCOURAGE.

This man is responsible for not one, but TWO characters getting sent to the hospital!

Repeat what I said earlier:

Listen, murder is wrong, battery is wrong. Riya tries to kill Aiden. Karol kills everyone. But you know why I didn't take much problem with that? THESE CHARACTERS ARE VILLAINS.

BUT SURE, LET'S HAVE OUR HEROIC POWER COUPLE DO THE SAME THINGS, INSTANCES THAT ACTUALLY GET MEDICAL CONSEQUENCES FOR THOSE PEOPLE.

WHAT A GREAT LESSON. /s

This is part of Aiden's 'gaining confidence' arc by the way. He learns that murder is okay.

I guess murder and battery is bad only if you're a woman? It's okay if the boys do it?

WHAT A GREAT LESSON. /s

THAT'S NOT PROBLEMATIC AT ALL. /s

I'm just saying, I don't like that. I don't like that this is portrayed as okay.

If you REALLY wanted to have the finale parallels hit harder and see James as the good one in the end, then why are BOTH OF THEM attempted murderers?

Why is Riya seen as a bad guy for leaving someone hanging on a cliff, but James and Aiden get a pass for sending people to the hospital?

Every female character that dares oppose our beloved gay power couple is an enemy and a villain that needs to be put in their place, regardless of their reasonings. Is this season misogynistic? I think it's that...

Then he loses his temper over losing his phone, accuses Rosa of stealing it and attacks her, BEFORE HE HAD ANY PROOF SHE DID IT other than "Well she had a background".

If James had not exploded like that, Riya's plan would have failed and everything would have worked out fine.

But again James gets no consequences for this nor does anyone bring it up.

Then he shoves Aiden off a cliff.

...again, he gets a pass. Riya doesn't.

(Though I get the logic behind that one.)

And then it's revealed to everyone that despite gaining love and respect for Aiden, James is STILL using him for views.

(Before you say he stopped prior to Riya finding the phone: Riya says she saw a message pop up offering him money to take a photo with Aiden. You get those messages popping up the moment they're sent to you. So this implies James was still doing it.)

COOL. I LOVE THAT THE GOOD MOMENTS HAD ANOTHER GROSS FACTOR TO IT.

And James gets called out and cancelled for this. Yay-I mean oh no how sad...

This is the only times James EVER actually gets ANY sort of repercussions for what he does btw.

So he feels really bad about what he's done and he misses Aiden and nobody is routing for him, but all he cares about is making it up to Aiden.

Then, AT THE FINALE, we finally get his backstory about how he's an insecure guy who wanted fame to mean something. Cool. IT'S THE LAST EPISODE. THIS IS TOO LITTLE TOO LATE.

Then he wins a million dollars and gets his boyfriend back!

So like, the only consequence he got, he decided did not matter anymore. And since the people on the show routed for him again after his apology, what's stopping me from thinking he won some followers back too?

Yeah... it's a decent arc and all, but MAN THAT EXECUTION.

It was just SO HARD to like him when you factor in ALL OF THAT. IT'S JUST SO HARD.

But, here's the thing... James also has some good stuff to that as well. He's not the worst.

Despite my feelings towards the ship, there are some scenes where he NOT being predatory.

Helping Aiden with is fear of thunderstorms is sweet. The fact that he decides not to check his phone and hang out with Aiden is sweet and nice character growth. He keeps his promise to Aiden to be honest about schemes. I like the movie banter. And again, Aiden's trans coming out scene is very sweet because James approaches it well and respectfully. Which you don't expect from him.

And on top of that, after he loses his followers, I do find everything he does and says after that to be genuine. I do believe he feels guilty and regrets his actions prior.

And I do find his apology and confession to Aiden to be VERY GENUINE.

He's not likeable, but that's the point. He's supposed to be someone who grows to be someone better and sees that fame is not what matters.

Love is what matters. Staying true to yourself is what matters. Your life is what matters.

The Anti-Riya. Again. The parallels are there.

So, I DO see it.

I would've then had Riya win the money to bring that message home cause then she'd be alone and stuck in an identity that's not herself for the rest of her career and life, and James and Aiden run off happily ever after because money wouldn't buy their happiness-BUT WHATEVER. THAT'S MY OPINION.

YOU HAD A GREAT BUILD UP THERE. JUST SAYING. IT WAS RIGHT THERE.

So really, my biggest problem with James is that he ticks off boxes of things I don't like. Without those, he's actually a pretty solid character with a strong arc.

I... kinda DO want to see James come back. Shocking, I know.

But put him in Season Three, and have him NOT do those things, and BOOM, I might actually like him.

ALSO, he poisoned Yul.

ALSO, he lent money to Rosa. WHICH I RESPECT THE HELL OUT OF, SO MUCH. THAT IS THE ULTIMATE REDEMPTION RIGHT THERE.

So you know what? For those things, this is going to be a VERY SHOCKING ranking.

A low B tier.

He rubs me off the wrong way. But I respect the story they were going for, and there were SOME genuinely good things he did.

Now granted, that ranking is VERY generous. I might change that in the future. Just because this is, again, the most MIXED character for me. The most "WHERE THE HELL DO I PUT THIS CHARACTER?"

So are you happy? I didn't put him in a bad tier. I warmed up to him.

I still would've preferred a Riya win though.

SPEAKING OF, RIYA IS NEXT.

Uh...

IT'S NO SECRET I LOVE THIS WOMAN.

I supported her no matter what! I said "Hey, if you want to leave Aiden hanging off of a cliff, you do it girlie! I support women's wrongs!"

If Riya has 1,000,000 fans, I am one of them.

If Riya has 1,000 fans, I am one of them.

If Riya has 100 fans, I am one of them.

If Riya has 10 fans, I am one of them.

If Riya has 1 fan, I AM THAT ONE.

So... yeah, you know where she's going. I'm a bias bitch with this one. 👑

This is my queen right here.

She's an evil queen, but she's MY evil queen.

I mean Grett's also here. Screw it. We can have two evil queens.

THIS IS MY FAVORITE SEASON TWO CHARACTER BY THE WAY.

There's not gonna be any character from Season Two that goes above her.

I was just really fascinated with her the entire time watching the season. I pretty quickly gravitated towards her character.

At first it was just "This chick is hot." I admit XD

But like,

LOOK AT THIS DESIGN.

You got the curly dark ponytail, contrasted with the gold folded dress and the scarlet red jacket and sandals, two colors I LOVE.

(The hot colors are my favorite colors)

LIKE, THIS IS A SMASH FOR ME. THIS SPEAKS TO ME.

(I'm ace though. I just mean by looking fab 💅)

I immediately went "THIS IS A QUEEN RIGHT HERE" as a result. And then I supported everything she did.

There's also something else that made me absolutely obsessed over her.

For those who didn't see my Season 1 reactions, in Episode 10 of that season, Ellie found herself in a conflict where she needed to get out somebody from the Tom/Jake/Miriam alliance.

And then Tom tells her he found an immunity idol.

So I went "There you go. Steal the idol from Tom and you can nullify the votes in your favor."

But no. She doesn't do that. Instead she makes this very convoluted plan with Fiore and Alec to use Jake's PTSD against him to ruin his relationship with Tom.

Not only was the plan so convoluted, but it was also very disgusting.

And she kept insisting that it was only way she could have gotten what she wanted.

AND I WAS SCREAMING THE ENTIRE TIME FOR HER TO JUST STEAL THE IDOL.

And EVER SINCE THAT EPISODE, it has become a running gag on my blog whenever I post Disventure Camp, to go INSANE whenever an idol shows up.

So when Season Two comes around, RIYA JUST WENT AHEAD AND DID IT. SHE STOLE THE IDOL.

She PROVED to me that my argument was justified. Stealing the idol IS, INDEED, THE EASIEST SOLUTION TO EVERYONE'S PROBLEMS.

SLAY QUEEN👑

It also made perfect sense in the narrative as well. This plan was DIRTY, but it was genius to get herself to the finale.

It's the Final Five. Everyone is ganging on Hunter because he wins immunity all the time.

And if Hunter wins immunity again (which is what ends up happening), then who's out next? James and Aiden WON'T turn on each other, and everyone loves Rosa. So Riya would've been next.

And Rosa has an idol. So the plan was to steal Rosa's idol from under her nose, and frame Rosa for theft to get the others to turn on her. Then without the idol, Rosa takes the votes instead of Riya.

And even if they find out Riya did this? Doesn't matter. She has the idol. She can use it for herself and guarantee her spot in the finale.

IT WORKED. And I have to give credit to a great plan where credit is due.

Girl KNEW what she was doing.

The only reason she lost in the end was because of a canon malfunction.

BUT THERE'S UNIRONIC REASONS WHY I LIKE HER TOO, I SWEAR.

We associate her with being a villain character NOW, just because of where her story went.

If I was to compare her to any Total Drama character, it would be Julia.

Both of them are twist villains in their respective seasons, and became such after being fueled by fame and viewership and support for nasty behavior.

But wouldn't say they're the exact same character, because in Julia's case, her nice zen self was the act and her true self was her nasty self.

Whereas Riya it's actually the opposite.

Because in the beginning Riya is a genuinely sweet woman.

Her story is that she is an actress in India down on her luck because she can't get any roles in movies to keep herself afloat. Even before she came on the show, very few people like her and support her. It's implied she doesn't have a great relationship with her family, and she didn't have any friends even there.

So when she went to the west to try and aid her career, her depressing lonely life hit her like a truck from culture shock.

I kinda wish they did more with showing her culture shock, but what we did see of it was still good. And I bet any immigrants can relate to what she says.

What I found really interesting was that at the start of the season, Riya says that her policy is to stay true to herself to stay strong.

But then her being herself is the very root of her failures in her circumstance.

The acting industry is BRUTAL and DEMANDING. I know this from my schools. They only want the popular people who fit these criteria's and can fit the personas required correctly. If you go there and be yourself, you're not gonna get ANYTHING.

Trust me. I KNOW.

So I was suspicious of Riya's story from how her policy contradicts her means of success. AND I WAS RIGHT.

It's also how the show works. This and Total Drama. Reality TV is corrupting because what they look for is entertainment. If you're not entertaining, you're gonna get a bad edit and then people online know you, but won't like you. So you see people acting to make these characters to appeal to the masses and get not only their chance to shine but their shots to win. By any means necessary, that's how the cutthroat game works, and that's what the success there is. And i's very easy to lose sight of yourself and your identity.

It was one of the things and theming's I found so fascinating about Total Drama to begin with. So you can imagine it's a soft spot for me in this show, where it's straight up explicit that this is what they're going for.

Deep down, Riya is just a sweet girl with a dream to make it as an actress, but she feels so alienated to the world and people around her as is that she craves and what she NEEDS is companionship.

But nobody goes to talk to her. Hunter Allyson and Tess go to YUL of all people, and Kai is insane. So most of them just ignore her and she's at the bottom of her team.

Despite this, she meets Connor and learns they have some things in common, and they bond over their culture shock. She's one of the key players in helping Connor come to terms with his age, and as a result, he becomes a close friend of hers.

COOL! I HOPE HE DOESN'T GET ELIMINATED OR ANYTHING-

Op, he quit.

F for Riya for sure.

Connor leaves and he gives her a very expensive perfume as a birthday present. And Riya absolutely treasures it.

She values it because it came from Connor, obviously, but there are people around her without knowing the meaning making comments about his luxurious it is. So yeah, it was a very subtle detail I picked up on, and I have to applaud that writing choice to make the perfume be that significant.

She finds an advantage to help her get out of her spot on the bottom, switching two people. Taking Yul out (SLAY), and bringing in Rosa Maria. Who Riya takes the opportunity to gravitate towards as well to be her trusted friend and ally.

...to the point where she's kinda possessive over her.

Everything's great until the merge, where Lake comes back to the picture, and it's clear Rosa has more faith and trust in Lake than Riya.

It becomes evident when Rosa only reveals she found the immunity idol to them ONLY after Lake joins them.

Now, Rosa cares about Riya too, so it's not that. Riya's being paranoid.

But I kinda see Riya's POV here of feeling betrayed and like her bond with these girls isn't as strong as she thinks it is. And she becomes so paranoid of them abandoning her that she ends up doing it herself.

Which then leads to her starting to prioritize the game and her career over these friends, and in the process she ditches her morals and her sense of self.

It starts small, when she decides to not warn Rosa about the votes against Lake to get Lake out of the picture. For the reason being she wanted Rosa to herself.

Then Karol comes in and gives her some advice.

"We don't fit in this place. And although they may seem friendly, in the end we are not a priority for them. Sooner or later they will want to discard us."

Which cuts Riya deep because that's exactly what her circumstance is. That's how the game works.

The Green Team wanted to discard her at one point despite her not doing anything to deserve it. Connor left. And Rosa didn't trust her enough to let her in on her plans until someone else was in the picture.

And then she's here witnessing the boys getting Karol to the hospital, and they are PRAISED for it.

Of course that's gonna go in her head.

So is it any wonder she did what she did and completely ditched her sense of self, in favor of this ruthless, cunning, villainess character?

It was only THEN that Riya ACTUALLY got success.

And that's the saddest part about it. How she was enabled to become this by the show and the people around her. Fame became the priority.

And in the end, Rosa denounces their friendship entirely, and everyone else hates her. All she has is Connor, and even then, they're on the fence.

I wouldn't be surprised if she ruins that too.

I love not only how natural the build up was to this, but also the ambition to do this negative character arc.

It really hit a soft spot for me to get a character with this story and have it be as explicit as this. Really showing how this industry works and how people in this field get corrupted in one way or another.

I LOVE gushing over her villainy persona. I kinda made some gags out of it. BUT ALSO, I can't help but feel sorry for her. She learned the wrong lessons. She didn't have to do this to herself. At the end of the day, she isn't this demon from hell. She's a person. A misguided person.

It's also why I would have preferred it if Riya had won.

I KNOW SHE'S A VILLAIN. But hear me out. The build up was there! They could have done something REALLY ambitious here by having her WIN, but she LOSES what was actually important.

It would've been very unique and very interesting instead of the safe "The good guys win and the bad guys lose".

I genuinely want Riya to win this season.

I get she might be evil, but it's Total Drama so who cares look what show you're watching, BUT THAT WOULD BE SO POETIC AND BRILLIANT.

She came here as an outsider outcast with no social life and desperately wanted it. But because of the game and what her career needed to succeed, she had to ditch both that and her morality so she could find success.

SHE WINS AND SHE SLAYS, BUT SHE WON'T BE HAPPY. HER LIFE WILL BE MISERABLE AND AN ENDLESS CYCLE OF ACTING SHE CAN'T BREAK FROM.

I WANT RIYA TO WIN NOW. THAT WOULD BE SUCH A GREAT ENDING. TOTAL DRAMA WOULD NEVER DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT.

But sadly no. She loses and Connor forgives her.

So maybe there's hope for redemption in Season 3?

Probably. Probably not. Honestly, they could go either way.

And since Riya was a finalist in Season 2, obviously my ideal Riya win is out of the equation now. They're not gonna have anyone be a finalist twice.

But, honestly, depending on the arc, I could also see there being a good excuse for her to at least make it to merge of Season 3. Maybe even Final Five or Four. Whether as a redeemed woman who saw the light, or someone who doubles down and loses everything.

I'm gonna make a prediction post once I react to the Season 3 cast select. By prediction I mean elimination order.

When I predict an elimination order, it doesn't have much to do with my opinion on the character. If it was solely that, then look at that, Jake and Riya are my finalists. But obviously that's a no and that's not something that would happen. I need to be realistic on that front.

I don't know. I'm going off track now.

Point is, RIYA IS QUEEN. I STAN HER AND I LOVE HER.

ALRIGHT! WHO'S NEXT?😄

🙃

*Moves to the end of the row*

TESS! TESS IS NEXT!

Tess is great. I like Tess. She might be my favorite of the polycule.

Looking at her design alone and looking at her on paper, she just seems like a Gwen knock off.

And I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the original vision.

She’s a woman who dresses in all black, is antisocial towards people in the beginning, and is tied to romantic plotlines half the time because people have a kink for goth girls.

But I personally think because both of these characters stories go in wildly different directions, Tess can still be called her own character.

I already said I really enjoyed her friendship with Allyson. I forgot to say this before, but I also love how neither of them actively go to antagonize each other to win the guy. They're very mature about the situation, and it's really appreciative to see that in some characters.

Again, I think Tess has way more chemistry with Allyson than Hunter BUT THAT'S JUST ME.

I can definitely see why Tess and Hunter would bond with each other due to their shared lifestyles of never being able to connect with people.

Not because they want to be alone. Not because they’re lazy. But because they simply struggle in the world in the department.

In Tess’s case, it has to do with depression.

And yes, they explicitly say that.

So skip to 🖤 if you want to avoid the subject of depression.

Tess is an orphan. She has had nobody her entire life. No purpose, no peers, no nothing.

It got to a point where she had been diagnosed with depression and needed to take meds to prevent herself from being suicidal.

Hunter finds out this is what's going on with her, and he approaches her about it. And he is very respectful towards what is going on. He doesn't judge her. He just makes it clear he understands and wants to be by her side.

And since that point, Tess starts to open up a little more to Hunter and Allyson and form a bond with them. Even when she, at first, expects the worst in Allyson. She is proven wrong when Allyson helps her out of a panic attack.

It's clear that Tess's motivations didn't involve winning the million at all. She just wanted the experience. She just wanted to do something with her life and feel alive.

And in that sense, her victory is finally forming a bond with people that love and accept her for who she is. Even when it feels like there's no reason for them to do so.

I love her elimination for these reasons.

Tess eavesdrops on everyone else and learns they are planning to vote her off.

She COULD, if she wanted the million, try to scheme and prevent this from happening. IF SHE WANTED TO.

But as she approaches the unassuming Allyson and Hunter, what does she do?

"Guys, there's something I want to tell you."

"We are SCREWED. Nice knowing ya."

"I just want to say... thank you."

Oh? Awww...

"Thank you for not giving up on me. Thank you for insisting on reaching out to me, even though I'm a mess. I was horrible to you, and yet you treated me with kindness, patience, and love. I... I am very, very happy that I came to this camp. Despite many horrible things I've been through.... meeting you two has been on of the best things that's ever happened to me."

AWWWWWW. HONEY. OH MY GOSH...

I'm actually touched. SWEETHEART.

Tess... just quietly accepts her fate. Because she has decided what matters in that moment.

This wouldn't work for any other character. If it was any other character, I would have called BS, and that they could've absolutely done something to save themselves from winning.

But BECAUSE IT'S TESS, someone who got her win already, I'm glad they did it like this.

I have a loved one who goes through depression. And I myself am seeing a therapist. So in terms of how they handled the subject of depression itself...

I think it was pretty respectful all things considered. Again, I love how Hunter and Allyson approach it with her she has an episode. Said episode is very real for anyone going through it. Sometimes you just spiral into a sea of negative emotions and everything just feels hopeless and meaningless. It's very real.

I also LOVE that they NEVER treat this as a joke. That was one thing I was SCARED of when I saw the pills, but they took the subject with the seriousness it deserved.

And they NEVER spoke in any way that this a good thing to say or feel. They were merely just patient.

I really like that.

🖤

In terms of where I'd rank Tess...

I mean I think she's great. I'll put her in...

A Tier. Above Ellie? ...yeah, cause Ellie's stupidity REALLY bothered me.

I WISH they MORE with Tess's backstory.

That is the ONE reason why she is not in S Tier.

We know from ONE LINE that she is an orphan. That's it.

Other than that, we don't know how she got depressed, what her life was like to explain the depression, or anything.

Well, you can't EXPLAIN depression, so maybe that's not the right way to word it. But you know, knowing more about her past would've been nice to at least give audiences their own conclusions to draw.

I just feel like I SHOULD know MORE about Tess than I actually do.

Give her more backstory and she could be S Tier.

But I still love her. I also like that she's an artist. That's really cute.

HUNTER

HUNTER IS MY PICK FOR BEST BOY OF SEASON TWO.

...I'd give him B Tier.

Yeah... looking at this tier list and that statistic, I really didn't like the male characters in this season, huh?

Yeah, looking at the S Tier and the Stan Tier, only TWO boys in those tiers. WOW.

And neither of them are from Season Two.

Anyway, about Hunter.

It's kind of funny that the label he has is "The Player".

But uh... he's really not?

He just hangs out with other girls. That doesn't say anything about him being a romantic player. He's not trying to play with these girls emotions. Willingly, anyway.

He's more just an introverted guy trying way too hard to be social. Mostly because he doesn't get out a lot.

And it's actually kinda cute to see him try and fail to make social connections with these people. The card thing is really cute and awkward. And I love how oblivious he is towards romantic subtext.

I knew it was wrong, but I still kept reading Hunter as aromantic. He was giving me that energy.

I don't hate that it was wrong, I'm just saying.

Hunter is asexual. I'm not taking criticism.

He also has really good chemistry with the girls, and I buy he would struggle to figure out how to approach the subject of their relationship. Not because he's manipulative, but because he has a hard time sorting these things out.

CAN YOU SAY "AUTISTIC CODED"?

If I liked the other guys better, Hunter probably would be lower, but here we are.

He's just, a REALLY nice and genuine guy. He's never antagonistic towards anybody and is going out of his way to help them out and be respectful about what's going on.

This man KNEW a woman's depression meds were important to her, and he went out of his way to save some and keep them in a safe place in case anything bad happened to her bottle.

BLESS THIS MAN'S HEART FOR THAT ONE.

And even when he becomes target number one, it doesn't mean he's doing anything malicious. He's just a physical threat because he's constantly winning immunity.

EVERY TIME FOR BULLSHIT REASONS MIGHT I ADD.

Except the last time.

Episode 7, the ring holder said "Lol nope" to Lake.

Hunter didn't even win the Episode 8 challenge, Karol just shared immunity with him to stir the pot.

Episode 9, he loses his blindfold AND his partner going down the sled. BOTH OF WHICH were REQUIREMENTS. And yet he STILL got immunity.

It got RIDICULOUS. And kinda made it predictable that eventually they would HAVE to beat Hunter. Because if he bullshat is way to the finale and won, people would be LIVID.

Ngl, I kinda feel sorry for him that this became his circumstance in the merge XD

Dude did nothing wrong leave him alone.

But it's also because of the merge that Hunter isn't any higher unfortunately.

Once Tess is eliminated, Hunter kinda just becomes bland and I stopped caring about his plotline. I was just waiting for him to go home.

That and Hunter really isn't a character with a lot of emotional range, like I said. He has the same thing going for him that Allyson has. But at least Allyson had the gamer girl motif so she was a BIT more of a standout.

Oh and he allies with Yul at one point. WHICH IS A NO NO.

He says his reasoning is "If Yul is in the game, attention is on him and not me." BULLSHIT. HAVE YOU WATCHED SURVIVOR?

If you ally with a villain, and people realize they can't vote the person out, they're gonna decide to take out their allies. They have to if they want the villain out eventually. This is EXACTLY how you get a target on your back!

And that's exactly what happens. Once Yul is gone, Hunter has NO PLAN.

HE'S A FLOATER.

Anyway, mostly I'm just impressed that they made a love triangle that WASN'T completely annoying. In Total Drama that's a miracle. Nobody tried to kill each other and nobody was painted as a bad guy!

OH ROSA. SWEET ROSA!

GOD BLESS THIS WOMAN. OH MY GOD.

Listen, as we've established, I love the messy characters. I latch onto the messiness and unstable characters because they're so much more interesting to analyze.

But if everyone was messy, nobody would be, ya know?

Sometimes, you just need that one SUNSHINE in the cast. That one character that just handles everything thrown at them with a smile on their face and genuine kindness.

ROSA IS THAT CHARACTER.

Everyone else here has SOME sort of angst and trauma and drama going on. And it weighs them down. And while Rosa has trauma too, she handles it with her head held high.

And dammit, that's inspiring.

I previously called Rosa "The Paddington of this cast". And I still stand by that.

Not exactly the most dynamic, but they don't need to be. Their strength and their role in the story is to have their sunshine-filled goodness rub off the people around them to make the world a better place.

She very quickly stood out to me for being not only one of the nicest people ever, but one of the mot optimistic and happiest people ever.

IN A TOTAL DRAMA KNOCK OFF SHOW.

THAT'S IMPRESSIVE.

These settings are usually VERY mean spirited and sadistic and cruel. And yet despite that, she stays true to herself and doesn't let them wipe away her smile and positive outlook on the world.

Her story is also very interesting to me.

She's an extroverted Latina teenager from a not so safe neighborhood. There's a lot of scary messed up people where she's from. Despite this, she was a bit of a flirt with the boys that came and went in her life, all for happiness and satisfaction.

And then she got pregnant from that. And people did not take it the best way. Especially when it forced her to grow up fast. Teenage mother and all that. The lack of support and the fact that she had to become a thief to survive gave her every reason to look at the world negatively. But she still knew that wasn't the future she wanted for her daughter. So she held it together.

She came to the show to financially support her daughter and her future. And DAMMIT, I WAS ROUTING FOR HER TO WIN.

I thought she WAS gonna win for the longest time. She had everything going for her. A strong social game. She was physically capable. Nobody wanted to get rid of her for the longest time. If Riya didn't interfere, she probably would have won.

But she got money from James in the end, so you know what? Can I gaslight myself into thinking Rosa won?

Fuck it. ROSA WON.

It's a strong foundation that plays sense into all of her actions.

She's kind and social, and will give you a hug. But she also has a backbone and a bit of a no nonsense attitude. Especially towards bullshit like Yul existing and Riya's scandal towards her. Which the latter she had EVERY RIGHT to be pissed at, and I LOVE that she doesn't forgive Riya. That tells me Rosa isn't naive and knows when people can't be helped. And the former, GIRL WAS ABOUT TO THROW HANDS. AND SHE DID SO WITH A GODDAMN SERIAL KILLER.

HOW CAN YOU NOT STAN?

I also like how Rosa can't really FIX anyone's problems. She can give advice, but not everyone is gonna take it. Lake snaps at Rosa when she calls out her parents and they have a falling out. She straight up FAILS with Riya. Like, girl, why didn't you trust Riya enough to show her your idol sooner? After you knew Riya was weary about friendships. That said, I would still say Rosa was undeserving of what happened to her.

Oh, and she decides to betray her own alliance just because she felt bad for Hunter. Which is... girl, no. Hunter's not a bad guy so I get it, but GIRL. IT'S A GAME.

James still had to apologize on his own. Lake still had to find her independence on her own. Rosa's just there to be a light bulb. But I really like that for her.

She's also not above justice. She knows when to put her foot down and call someone out. Again, with Riya. And SHE was the one who suggested they sneak in Krystal's tent to steal Riya's perfume back.

I also love love LOVE that she's into astrology. That's a huge ME thing. But I LOVE THIS SO MUCH.

I love it when characters have hobbies like that.

I LOVE HER LIBRA NECKLACE, OH MY GOD.

I also, again, love Rosa's dynamic with Lake and how much of a mother figure she becomes for her. I also like how she stuck with Riya despite Riya being the outcast. It wasn't until Riya betrayed her that she ended that friendship entirely. Rightfully.

Is she a stan...?

Yeah.

THIS GIRL DESERVES THE WORLD DAMMIT!

She's a Paddington. That's all I'll say. She is a Paddington and a beacon of light in such a CRUEL, MISERABLE environment where there's so much deception and hate going around. And not only does she refuse to get pushed, but she also says that sweetheart. I SALUTE HER.

Sadly, I don't think she'll get to go far in Season 3 because she already has money from James. She might get some sort of conflict with Riya, but that's it. But you know, I would like to see that get fleshed out. I like to see a scenario where Rosa doesn't like a teammate and wants them to get eliminated. Rosa deserves that.

ALRIGHT, that's it with the contestants! Now we can move on to the hosts...

🙃

...oh wait, I did forget someone!

🙃

OLIVER

You remember Oliver, right? He competed.

Yeah I don't have much to say with this one. He was the first boot. His backstory is being a Gen Z employee. And he spends the rest of this season as Krystal's intern and getting abused.

Which, you know, I DID feel bad for him.

And he DOES serve a purpose to the story as someone who becomes very important to Krystal and her struggle to maintain her sanity. He's a light in her life. Despite the abuse, he doesn't lose faith in her and sees the best in her when no one else did.

It's nice. I like him. I'll give him a B tier. He served his purpose well.

I will say though, it was HIS FAULT that Aiden almost died. Dude is in charge of the safety equipment in this show! And he's been very good about that all season.

And then SUDDENLY he forgets to get anything set up in case someone falls off the FREAKING MOUNTAIN?!

OUT OF CHARACTER. BULLSHIT. CHEAP DRAMATIC EFFECT.

Who is this? Marcus?

Oh that's his name.

Uh... I actually have NOTHING to say. Why is this character even here? He doesn't do anything aside from be protective over the doll. Remove him and the season does not change-

-oh wait I just remembered the puppet.

She did kill everyone that one episode.

Just... WHAT THE HELL EVEN IS THIS THING?

IS IT A PUPPET? IS IT A CHILD? IS IT A DEMON FROM HELL???

I DON'T KNOW. But, idk, I kinda love not knowing in this case.

Top of C Tier just for the puppet.

KRYSTAL MCLEAN

Daughter of Chris McLean. Yes, THAT Chris McLean.

So, when it comes to this show, I don't really care about the hosts.

In Season 1 especially, their plotline just did absolutely nothing for me. And I didn't care about the duo's dynamic either. It was very boring.

Important, but boring.

KRYSTAL ON THE OTHER HAND.

Honestly, I actually DID dig her storyline.

She's certainly NOT Chris in terms of icon. But I really liked her.

I really liked her story about being a executive trying to do her job and get the show picked up to work, and dealing with childhood trauma and her way of being raised getting in the way of her actions and manic behavior.

Like, she was a bad person. And I don't deny that. Especially in the start of the season where she enslaves the campers in a challenge and tells somebody to throw their depression medication in a fire... it's disgusting. But it's also supposed to be.

But she wasn't very one dimensionally sadistic. She doesn't WANT to be that way. It was just due to how she was raised with her neglectful father being THAT MOTHERFUCKER, that she lashes out and lets those teachings take hold of her.

And it's not until she loses Oliver that she grows to realize she actually respects him as a person and she NEEDS him in her life. He put up with her when no one else did. Which is something that meant a lot to her. So she REALLY puts in the effort to be the best version of herself to keep him around, only to burn herself out because of how much of a culture shock it is for her.

Idk, I liked it, and I found it interesting. She was very interesting to me. Especially since she's tied to a lot of this show's lore.

So I'll give her an A Tier. She's the best host character.

*Groan*

This took me three days to make. But I can avoid it no longer.

It's Yul's turn.

Fuck this fucking piece of fucking shit from fucking hell...

I mean it's no secret I hate Yul. Right?

I think the reasons I hate him are pretty obvious as well.

Disventure Camp really likes fleshing out its characters and going beyond their stereotypes and roles. Making them far more human.

So isn't it great that we have a character that IS nothing but his stereotype?

And he's also one of the most COMICALLY UNLIKEBALE, SHALLOW, SADISTIC, OFFENSIVE BITCH BAGS I've ever met on a Total Drama season.

Like okay, he shows up, first thing that comes out of his mouth is a joke about a woman's menopause.

Then we find out he's here because he was cancelled in his country for SHOVING AN OLD LADY DOWN AN ESCALATOR.

Then he proceeds to bully Maggy cause she's a big girl. He continues to do this to the point where he costs his team the challenge just because he doesn't want anything to do with her.

And then he also tries to KILL AIDEN with a mushroom.

And then the entire time when people are calling him out on his crap, he proceeds to ignore all of it and insult everyone's race, gender, sexuality, body type, etc.

He was giving me Velma flashbacks if I'm being honest. (He's not as bad though cause at least we're supposed to not like it.)

He didn't NEED to be one of the most complex characters of the cast. But even the Total Drama characters that are meant to be their gimmicks and nothing else should at least have an entertaining gimmick.

So what's Yul's gimmick?

He's a biggot.

...where's the punch line?

Not only is that not funny, but it's also extremely problematic. For obvious reasons. And there's NO backstory to explain it either.

Like, you can be a villain and still not turn off half of your audience. Just saying.

OH WAIT, HE'S A VILLAIN. I'M SUPPOSED TO HATE HIM.

OKAY SO ALL MY PROBLEMS ARE NEGATED, RIGHT-?

NO.

Because as a villain, he's SHIT.

One, he's not even the main villain of the season. There is nothing about his character that serves any way to push the themes further. He has no impact on making Riya a villain at all.

Not that he needed to be, but this man wants to be Grett SO BAD. With NO understanding of what made Grett good.

Like, NEWS FLASH, HE DOESN'T DESERVE TO BE IN THE SAME ROOM AS GRETT.

He spends the entire game with his strategy being to be a biggot to EVERYONE, and rely on a four person alliance who stayed in that... BECAUSE.

Again, HE was the one who made the Green Team lose the kissing challenge.

You'd think a villain would WANT to win, right? He doesn't have any interesting strategy. He's just a douche for the sake of being a douche.

I mean, I guess he lies to Aiden to get a vote thrown...?

But that was James' idea, and that is BAD for Yul because then he gets in a tie with Maggy.

What if he lost that tiebreaker?

DON'T PUT YOURSELF IN A TIE LIKE THAT.

And then the only strategy he comes up with on his own is murder.

Great. I'm sure that won't backfire at all.

So no. Yul does not get points for being a villain. Especially if he's shit at the role.

Oh, and something else I find disgusting and really problematic about him:

Disventure Camp and Total Drama characters have labels. Something to establish their stereotype or something major about themselves.

Riya is the Bollywood Actress. James is the Influencer. Allyson is the Gamer Girl. Tess is the Asocial. Etc. Things like that.

Yul's label, the thing that defines him, is "The Korean Dancer".

...

His label includes his race.

See the problem?

There is absolutely NO redeeming qualities about this character WHATSOEVER.

It is my absolute HONOR to give this man the ONLY F TIER ON THIS LIST.

And the only way anyone is gonna join him is if Season 3 really REALLY REALLY fucks up their character.

FUCK YUL. FUCK THIS PIECE OF SHIT. I NEVER WANT TO SEE HIM AGAIN.

Okay, but I WILL say though: It is FUN to dunk on him.

He is one of those "So bad it's funny" characters.

Does shit to his ranking. But you know.

The DMs I've been getting talking about Yul have definitely made me like Yul more than I would have if I was just watching the show for yourself.

Like, some of your rewrite ideas for him? A+. I bet your fanfictions would make me like Yul a lot more than in canon.

So, I may hate the character and never want to see him in canon again, but I do love dissing him and bullying him.

When he was eliminated due to mushroom poisoning, I was laughing and cheering. It was hilarious.

And again, Kai roasting Yul lives in my head rent free.

Fuck Yul. Truly. FUCK. YUL.

And that’s my ranking! Let me know what all your thoughts are!

[arlnlms]

Is blogging still relevant in the age of TikToks and Instagram?

MDA20009 Digital Communities │ Week 4

Blogging, what even is that? For some, especially Gen Z, it might sound like a relic of the past (around the early 2000s?), where people spilt their thoughts in long-form posts instead of short clips, something our millennial friends (Gen X) were into back in the day. Or maybe it just feels a little… outdated?

To answer the question of what a blog is, it's simply a kind of website that is updated frequently and offers information on a particular subject. When blogs first came into existence, they were essentially just online diaries where users could record entries about their everyday activities. Since then, they have changed and evolved into a vital platform for information sharing and updates between individuals and companies. It's a great place to get information, insight, and practical guidance (Weiner 2024).

So now for the main question, "Is blogging still relevant in the age of Tiktok and Instagram?". Well, it depends. 

Okay, let's all admit to the fact that attention spans nowadays are shorter than ever. We're all guilty of endlessly scrolling through TikTok or Instagram, trapped in the algorithm dishing out entertainment that doesn't require too much brainpower to comprehend. It's an integral part of our lives now. It's easy to assume that blogging might have lost its spark in this fast-paced, dopamine-driven world (I can't believe I thought of that).

Or so we thought...

The reality is that blogs are different because they're not designed for instant satisfaction. Instead, I feel like they offer depth in certain aspects. I feel like blogs allow for distinction, context, and a real understanding of a topic. It's where people can go to slow down and dive deep into topics or issues they're curious about. And that's where the value lies. Sure, you're not going to get that viral moment with a blog like how you would on Tiktok or Instagram, but that's kind of the point, no?

When people want a quick laugh or to catch up on the latest trend, they head to TikTok. But when they're looking for something more significant, like detailed information, how-tos, or even just a good, thought-provoking read, people are turning to blogs. But, Instagram is also a form of blogging platform as it also started alongside the blogging era (Corrine 2021). Some people still use it in the same style as a blog but that appeared to not work out well because Instagram does not allow clickable links in captions. Although you can say something like "link in bio," it is not the same as actually clicking on the link (Corrine 2021).

Community

TikTok and Instagram are great for instant interaction. Sure, one will always find their community through these 2 famous social media platform. Because the materials on these platforms is easily shared and frequently becomes viral, communities can grow rapidly. But the connection often feels fleeting, just temporary (Lang 2023).

Blogging, on the other hand, builds a sense of community in a different way. People visit blogs because they're invested in the content, and that naturally creates a more engaged, loyal audience. It's less about trends and more about shared interests. The readers who visit these blogs often return because they feel a deeper connection to the content creator and the discussions being had.

From the way I look at it, I think it's a 50/50 split because not everybody is a blog enthusiast. For some users, TikTok and Instagram offer a quicker, more visually stimulating experience. Others, on the other hand, who value detailed information and enduring knowledge will favour blogs. Every platform has a specific function, and the "best" community will vary depending on the level of community interaction one is seeking.

Searchability

Now let's divert the question to searchability. We can't deny that blogs might come up first rather than a Tiktok video or Instagram reel when one types in questions like "budget-friendly laptop for students" or "recipes for broke uni students" into a search engine.

Although, based on my experience, blogs may be very useful for some when it comes to searches like that, especially like recipes, or product reviews that need more than 1 minute where the reader might want a detailed breakdown or comparison, like, for example, comparing the specs of an iPhone 16 with the Google Pixel 9. However, when it comes to being a person like me that needs quick visual demonstration going back to that short attention span thing (because somehow i can't visualise instructions by reading), then that's where Tiktok and Instagram might come in handy. I'm sure many from my generation would agree to this and appreciate that 30 second Tiktok tutorial because we want something quick. So, it all comes down to a person's preference in the end.

So,

At the end of the day, blogs provide depth and lasting value that TikTok and Instagram lack in a sense. So, rather than competing, they actually complement each other. These days, the main goals of blogs should be to provide insightful content and resolve readers' issues (Corrine 2021). Despite its seeming old-school, blogging is nevertheless still booming.

List of references

Weiner, A. (2024, July 16). What is a blog? Definition, types, benefits and why you need one. Wix Blog. https://www.wix.com/blog/what-is-a-blog

Corinne. (2024, June 12). Is blogging dead? The rise of Instagram and TikTok. Skinnedcartree. https://skinnedcartree.com/2021/04/is-blogging-dead-the-rise-of-instagram-and-tiktok.html

Lang, K. (2023, August 30). What Does it Mean to Build a Community on Social Media? (And Why You Should). Buffer: All-you-need Social Media Toolkit for Small Businesses. https://buffer.com/resources/social-media-community/

[aprivateplace7]

Natlan Interlude quest let's go!

Iansan... interesting, i still don't know much of anything about her.

A sports coach... i remember that. Lol, guess she's also just short...? Doesn't seem like she's a child, but its still so weird. She looks the same age as Kachina...

"Mentally ill person" 💀

Aw, this is both sad & sweet...

The chief looks kinda cool... Cowboy coded.

That's completely fucked... but i guess it makes sense. The Abyss is more than just mindless monsters...

Lol, Traveler is just too awesome... We basically become a legend wherever we go x3

Its hard to believe we're 6/7 nations in... it feels like our "final goal", aka our sibling & The Abyss Order is still so far away... i mean, i know we're still gonna get Khaenri'ah, so Sneznihya (sorry spelling) won't be the *last* region, but still... i'm worried about it ofc, but i feel like the "point" of Genshin is a big journey. Like Mualani said in her quest, its not about the destination.

Iansan is actually saying some good stuff... i struggle w/ changing things too. Like i've fallen off brushing my teeth at night, or going to bed at a regular time, & its rly hard to get back into a healthy routine... also sometimes w/ things, like playing games, i just... over think it. I think i need to look up a bunch of guides & prep so i do everything perfectly, but i just need to cut that out & start doing it :v

I've been thinking lately... i'm more of a perfectionist than i thought. If i'm not confidant in smt, its hard to even start. I'd almost rather just not try at all... i hate doing things half-assed. It feels like if i can't give it my all, i might as well not even bother. I used to think that i wasn't 1 bc i'm fine w/ not getting all As or winning, but idk... this last trimester at school was rly hard 4 me...

Oh, hi Capitano O.o

Lol, he has a whole dramatic ost change...

Idk... i said last time that i still didn't like Capitano, & i still think his solution was short-sighted & stupid, but... well, maybe its just a Xiao situation :v he wants to help, he's just... kinda, not good socially ^^"

Yeah right... Capitano isn't exactly our "friend" :/ i understand that the Fatui isn't just the "big evil organization", but i still gen don't rly like them... i don't trust them, what tf is the Tsarisa trying to do...?

Oh wow, not gonna show us his face huh... i can guess :/ prob looks like a rotting corpse...

Oh right, i think i remember from the trailer, our ancient name... I haven't done that many quests, i wonder if that'll actually affect anything? :/

Yeah... i just looked & i only have 4 of the spots filled...

XD Kinich just yeeting Ajaw into the void will never not be funny.

...Kinich rly is pretty x3 i just have to look & smile whenever i see him, haha...

Ok no, it doesn't actually matter. I thought so...

This is kinda cool, like the Traveler is just uber awesome, they get a lot of titles & basically do everything, but i still think the ancient names stuff is just awesome. I wonder what ours will be...

Ah, i wanna know what everyone is saying too... that's cute tho. I think Paimon is kinda annoying, but like in a little sibling kinda way. I'm glad that she's with us.

Oh ok, so we don't get it yet...

Oh wow, alredy done? I've only been playing like an hr & 1/2... i guess it is an Interlude :v

...

Ok so... that was pretty peaceful, but idk i liked it... it was nice after Act 4. I still feel like Act 3 was pretty boring... idk why, i don't have anything in particular to complain about. It rly endeared me to Citlali, & Ororon was pretty cute/amusing but still... to me, it was just the worst act in Natlan. What's w/ the Act 3 curse? I didn't mind it so much, but i know ppl rly didn't like Fontaine Act 3 either... i don't remember Sumeru, but Inazuma Act 3 was the worst 1 too... but in that case it was bc that was b4 Hoyo allowed more acts to fully flesh out a story.

Anyway, ofc i'm def excited to see where this goes! Kinda disappointed that it was brought up, but we didn't actually get our Ancient Name yet...

[noodleswithsoba-blog]

Soba's Soapbox: How I Use Horrible Situations in Art to Delve into the Darkness and that's Okay (Fiction is Your Oyster!).

CW: A lot of dark subject matter such as Abuse, Neglect, and violent acts will be covered here in service of a point I'm trying to make. You may scroll on if you wish but this is a topic I wanna yammer about.

Greetings, True Believers! (Stan Lee Reference go Brrr.)

In my years on the internet as an Older Gen Z in his early 20s, I've seen much discourse over darker subjects in fiction and how it is something I've personally grappled with.

In the online discourse I have seen, it mainly stems from younger people wanting to inject real life morality into fiction, and while not applicable sometimes and others unavoidable with real life criminals using fiction as a scapegoat for what they did. (The Catcher in the Rye being the primary example here.)

Now with this, and me being a writer of fanfiction and hopefully a writer of fiction I want to say this...

It is COMPLETELY OKAY to use dark topics in your work! Granted you do proper research and try not to hamfist it. In my own writings I write about Abuse, Neglect, emotional and physical harm, and a lot of other such things such as death and gore and blood.

That doesn't mean I am a those things or wish that on others. It serves my story, it helps me deal with those dark times and those thoughts.

In the same vein it's alright to do as you wish with your fiction. Age characters up, down, change their personalities, do anything you want because fiction's your oyster.

As long as you're not harming others in real life. Because I've seen a rather concerning lack of a divide between reality and fiction lately too but that's for another Soba's Soapbox.

Keeping yourself in a box is not a good thing, it gets cramped and hot and you keep your thoughts in that box thinking you can't do this, or can't like that, or you'd become a pariah for something you enjoy and like and want to share with the world.

At the end of the day it's something you love and something you want to share with the world. Writing is an act of love, of creation, of working something into being with the pure magic of words.

So why? Why is there so much doxxing and harassment and death threats and sheer hatred in fandom spaces just because people like other things than other people, and people ship whoever they want to ship?

Because it's how we're wired as a species. Race, Class, Political Leanings, how we like our food, all of it circles right back to the days where we were just tribes of people out in a world that didn't have cities or cars or electricity or anything at all like that.

We're all just throwing stones at the people we don't like. We just hate blindly because we were hurt or offended because something didn't fit our worldview or our comfort or we were conditioned to by authority figures. It could be anything really. You might look at my walking stick or brace straps and decide you don't like them and want to snap at me for them.

But back to fiction. Back to the magic.

How I handle anything I don't like is simply this. I don't read it, I don't interact with it beyond a simple, "Well, I don't like that." said to myself, and move on to another thing.

Ships, Fics, Art, anything really. I just go, "Oh well, I don't like that." and move on. There have been times I've voiced my displeasure and have hurt people because of it and I can't get that back now.

That's something I live with. That's something at least all of us have to live with. Yet the screen gives us carte blanche to say whatever, to do whatever, to hurt and hate whatever and whoever is on the other side with impunity.

We can destroy anything with these.

Yet we can also use these screens to make entire worlds, to make dreams reality, to become remembered for all time for things we've done and build and grow and shape.

Yet sometimes I've seen horrible things. I've heard about horrible things. Done because someone didn't like a fic they did or art, or even music and other things.

In short, you don't HAVE to interact. You don't HAVE to hate. You don't HAVE to hurt others. It's easy to hate, it's easy to hurt. But it's hard to be kind and hard to heal.

Now I'll stop yanking your ear and let you go with this...

Fiction is your oyster. Go make something extraordinary.

Excelsior!

Soba.

[garetthawke]

i feel like. the people who get mad when ppl say "i pity the poor ppl who get taken advantage of by military recruiters" and just go on tirades about them being class traitors...have little to no concept of the power of propaganda. like i myself didn't have a single fucking clue of how bad the US military was until WELL after recruitment age. i was in my 20s when i started learning FOR THE FIRST TIME that the us was perpetrating war crimes and racist, imperialist violence.

my whole life I'd been fed so much propaganda, i was a whole ass adult before I'd even heard any perspective other than "military service is a great honorable thing to do to protect us from terrorism." post 9/11 ramped up military propaganda on a scale that is truly frightening, and circumstances and civilian fear allowed it to work.

i cannot even begin to imagine how many teenagers, struggling to afford college with no idea what they're even going to be able to do with their future, being preyed upon by recruiters who will tell them they can pay for their school, their future, if they sign up to do this thing they've been brainwashed since birth to believe is good and noble.

like class traitors?? babes the predatory nature of recruiters isn't just from the fact that they start recruiting children who are too young to decide that sort of thing, it's from recruiting children who haven't had a fucking chance to deconstruct all the propaganda they've been fed (especially if their parents are pro military) on top of having free school hung over their head like a carrot. they don't KNOW what they're signing up for.

the utter lack of empathy for how literal fucking children get manipulated by the whole system, starting with the complete and total effictiveness of our propaganda, means i don't think a lot of you even understand how any of this fucking works. you've got some cartoonish evil villain caricature in your head of people going "hmm yes i will sign my humanity away and become an evil killing machine for us imperialism in exhange for money," and think we're asking you to sympathize because they're poor. you're fucking idiots. the people we are asking you to sympathize with are brainwashed children who have NO idea what they're signing up for and are only thinking about a future they were promised they otherwise couldn't have, and are trading what they think is honorable service for it.

if we can't address that, how are we ever going to start undoing it? how are we going to protect future generations of children from believing the same things? recruiters prey on the people who were raised to think that way, and it does extend even beyond the people who are poor and disadvantaged. propaganda is the root problem of militaty recruitment, and i refuse to be the kind of person who won't have sympathy for children who never were given the chance to unlearn actual brainwashing.

maybe it's just my background, growing up in a cult where i was subjected to an extensive amount of brainwashing since birth, but i know how ugly it is. i know how it can shape your whole fucking worldview, and how annoying it fucking is for people on the outside of that to say "oh but its so easy to see that x stuff is wrong, and if you didn't know that, you're just a bad person."

if you don't have a concept of what it's like to be brainwashed, you're priviliged. that's all I've got to say about that. pity for people who have been brainwashed is not military sympathy, or justification for soldiers. it's grief for the system of us imperialistic violence functioning as intended and manipulating children to do it. its bone deep sadness and anger that they're able to do that. its frustration that for all your anti military posturing, a lot of you don't actually give a fuck about reducing numbers of military recruitment by working to counter propaganda for future gens, because you would rather sit on your high horse and just feel superior for condmening anyone who actually gets recruited, regardless of why or how, or what any of us could have done to change things.

[tumblngred]

I watched Turning Red with my family the other day and we're all different ages (late teens, mid 20s, mid 50s) and so obviously had different takeaways

One thing that really got me is that my younger brother just could not believe how Mei didn't speak/know Cantonese. When we got to the part where the aunties start singing, I accepted it- it seemed natural to me, that's my lived experience- but my brother (who is about a decade younger) thought it so unbelievable.

Neither me nor my brother were raised speaking our own heritage language. We were raised in the same household, but with a decade between us.

Lot of disclaimers here because I can't relate exactly: I wasn't raised in Canada, but rather the US. I'm not of Chinese descent, but I am Asian. This isn't super specific in the movie, but presumably Mei is at least 3rd-gen (her grandparents immigrated), while I'm 2nd-gen (my parents immigrated). Mei seems to have grown up surrounded in her culture (she lives in a temple, frequently interacts with members of her own ethnic community), but I did not (my family for the longest time was one of a handful of other.. non-majority group families in the area).

Keeping in mind all that- I'm closer in age to Mei was in that I remember growing up in the early 2000s and the film was very much a nostalgia trip for me. I wasn't aware of all the attitudes around bilingualism, assimilation, and specifically for immigrant families, teaching your kids your native tongue, at least not when I was growing up. It wasn't until I'd entered college that I really started studying and doing research about my own personal heritage and language identity in general.

I read about how 2nd-gen Americans of the time were significantly less likely to speak their parents' native language, but for a lot of us that language was still present in the house. I read about how the general attitude was very much "Don't speak to your kids in multiple languages; it'll hinder them (in learning English)". I read about how language-policing in this way had been, still was, so prevalent in American society, as a way of assimilating into the majority culture.

I remember asking my mom why didn't she teach us Tagalog. She told me she and my dad had been speaking it with us [me and my older brother] but that when my Kuya entered kindergarten, his teacher told my parents that he couldn't speak English right, that you are messing up your child. What were they supposed to do? They were young, in a new country that spoke a different language. No one wants to be told that they're messing up their kid and ruining his chances of success. So they stopped. English only with us from then on.

...

So I get where Mei's coming from I think. We grew up in a time where bilingualism was seen as "a bad thing, actually" and a mark of how unassimilated you were. The prevailing attitude was "ONLY teach your kids English or they'll fail" so if you were able to speak any English at all, that's what you did with your kids, to better their chances. There was still a sense of loss of culture, yes, but a lot of people still thought that at least it was just this one part; we still speak it around home, it's still around, they'll just pick it up naturally. How were most people to know that-No, bilingualism is actually good for young brains, No, kids are capable of readily learning multiple languages at once, No, if you don't explicitly speak with your kids in your language they will not pick it up. How were they supposed to know when educators were telling them otherwise and injecting a good amount of fear into it as they did?

Nowadays, though, there's been such a shift in thinking. Bilingualism IS good for your kids, the younger the better. You're fortunate that you can speak more than one language. How lucky that you could just learn it at home while most people have to learn it in school. The same people that praised me for speaking English so well are the same people that now look at me pityingly for not speaking Tagalog. They're also the same people trying to get their kids into bilingual education programs, get nannies that can teach their kids Spanish for them.

That's the time my brother grew up in. I talk about the time I grew up in a lot, and he gets it, but he doesn't Get It. So for me, that situation with Mei not understanding her aunties singing Cantonese really resonates. But for him, it requires more suspension of disbelief than the fact that Mei has been turning into a red panda for half the movie at that point.

[seblaine-rph]

not to be THAT person and maybe someone just hasn't explained to them why allowing minors to be played in an rp by adults is a not so great thing, but um, losershq is one of those next gens that I'm seeing has open spots for the kids at under 18 years old :/

That's gross. I took a quick look and they've now accepted numerous teenage minors into the rp. Skip the pedo vibes, don't check out @losershq. Really nasty seeing 28+ year old characters mingling with 15-17 year old characters as if they're just peers or something, totally the same and could possible date, and it reminds me of that one grooming pedophile I met in real life that likes to make friends with kids that young for bad purposes. There is no reason for adults to be writing minors. None. There are even fewer reasons for an adult to be writing a minor against adult characters in adult situations. I've seen people talk about the "coming of age story" and wanting to write those, but why? Please explain to me how and why you're a healthy individual with adult needs and wants that has a dire NEED to write children in adult scenarios? How does that make any sense? If you're over 18, you should be writing characters that are over 18 and the thought that minors are even allowed should make you LEAVE. If not because you're not a pedophile, then because you don't want to end up in legal trouble. Let your friendly, neighborhood attorney remind you that even FICTIONAL WORKS that involve pedophilia are still considered pedophilia and your "need" to write minors like this could send you and everyone else in the rp to JAIL. Look it up. I've already linked real life articles about real life roleplayers going to jail for being in rps like this, and I've already linked real life attorneys telling you not to do it because it's illegal.

I can't believe we're knock, knock, knocking on pedophilia's door all over again in the grpc. When are you guys going to get over these weird urges to fetishize and write kids as if they're grown?

[renawaywithme]

I just read the new chapter and saw your Tumblr!!! Oh my, I never expected that turn on events!!! This is soooo great!!! I mean, turning against each other? And I thought they started to get along!!!!! Anyway, it's really great, and I love it!!! No pressure for updates, take all the time you need to write this wonderful story of yours!!!!

P. S. You know, I finally found out what your story reminds me. It really give ls me the vibes of the fanatic rise funs and the fanatic 2012 funs, that try to prove their beloved version the best, and us readers are non fanatic, or in my case, funs of both versions, and we see them compering and fighting and we're like - it's not the same!!! You can't compare versions, they all are different in their own amazing way!!!

( Sorry, you might have figured from my username already but I tend to talk a little bit too much 😅😅. Sorry for the long ask... 😅)

When I said this was gonna be a crossover with ☄spice☄ I was not kidding. I honestly believe that if you took the series finale turtles of both shows, they would not get along. I could see season 1 - 3 2012 being more relatable to the 2018 guys, but I felt like I could have more... development (?) using the older versions as opposed to ones closer in age. And not just development for the 2012 guys - Rise still have room to grow. As for them not getting along, Raphael snapping was building up the entire story and Leo just does not vibe with Leonardo. With the realization that things are repeating (which may possibly include mistakes that 2012 are desperate to fix/ei Michelangelo convincing Raph, Mikey, and Donnie to leave the lair to not be consumed by Leo being hurt) and Leo getting nerfed by Shredder, everyone was stressed, and as Leonardo predicted - someone snapped. I also want to throw in a little clue on Raphael's part. While his reaction was indicated to play a large role with his past, the timeline was also mixing again. Obviously, Raph is stuck in the Brain Worm episode, but Raphael was going through a Rise episode that's pretty similar to Clash of the Mutanimals. I'll let you guys figure that one out.

And I'm so happy you're enjoying the story! The support means the world to me and motivates me to write like no tomorrow! And never ever apologize for being excited about something or rambling, I love seeing people getting passionate or gushing about stuff, like PLEASE ramble about stuff, even if I don't get it, I just like hearing people all excited.

And I was waiting to reveal this, but yeah u right lol. I wrote this fic since I had the timeline idea and was yet to find a fic that I thoroughly enjoyed that was a crossover (discluding Dagger From the Mirror by @nostalgiaruinedme ) so if you can't find one, make one. HOWEVER, another part came from the hate both shows get (Rise hate is more commonly seen on Instagram by older fans while 2012 is more tumblr/AO3 based) and I used those reoccurring insults to be some of the reasons they don't get along. It's a reflection of the discourse in the fandom that quite frankly is ridiculous. Each gen was made with a different generation/audience in mind and I think that's beautiful. It means everyone has a version to personally connect to since none are carbon copies, something always varies. But, that's a different post for another day.

Again, thank you for the support and never apologize! This made my entire day and I'm so thankful

[heavensenthearty]

Children on twitter are trying to dictate what we “adults” can and can’t do in the ATLA fandom that suits their comfort level. And trying to lecture us on “sexualizing minors” as if they make the rules in this fandom. Like excuse me you weren’t even born when ATLA aired. It is NOT your fandom. It’s our and you pushed your way in. You don’t get to complain about it making you uncomfortable after that and try to hijack it and force the original members out. The ENTITLEMENT. And (cont)

“sexualizing minors” is such a heavy and complex topic that you children have no real understanding of and certainly no authority over. Proven by the fact how carelessly you throw around terms like “pedofilia” for anything and everything to the point it’s lost all meaning. They’re even reporting people who draw aged up art whether is overtly explicit or not. Also you can’t demand you be coddled in adult spaces because your minors AND demand we take your opinions as seriously as other adults.

TW: Pedophilia, fatphobia, ableism, racism, mentions of capitalism.

Ok, this ask just triggered one hella lot of thoughts about this issue that doesn't limit itself to the ATLA fandom, so prepare yourself for a long rant, and one that I hope gets to at least one person on this age range.

A few days ago, I was talking to @awryen about this and I would like to add that this cancel culture and wokeness problem is more or so a regional one.

I never get tired of repeating this: America is a continent, not a country. There's a line called border where the U.S. ends and those kids would be amazed at how much wonders it does to people's way of thinking. (Or rather, turns out people are autonomous and are not obligated to agree with them.)

Here are a few Latin America Gen Z beliefs: capitalism does not equal greed, making everything gay is not representation, not supporting certain causes is not racism, veganism does not equal health, you get the picture.

What are they gonna do about that, shut down Venezuelans and Cubans when we are talking about the problems in our respective countries? What about when East Asian fans start talking about the racism within OG ATLA? They'll start saying we're just talking shit and wonder what did we smoke, again? (Because they already do.)

These people have not enough knowledge on world history to tell me my country was invaded by theirs when (let me tell you) it was not. They are not native from the Tibet to tell Tibetans whether a portrayal of their facial features is accurate or not. They haven't lived enough to learn enough.

The rest of the world doesn't play "match" with the U.S., it certainly doesn't revolve around them, Wikipedia is not the keeper of the secrets of the universe, and Twitter is not... well, it is hard to find an analogy of law and order that's not a synonym of oppression these days but if you can think about one, then insert it.

If you're gonna advocate for standing against oppression, then don't contribute to it acting like your problems are greater than everybody else's just because they disagree or you "can't relate" to them.

Now let's address their oh-so-beloved representation.

They like Luz in The Owl House, right? Why wouldn't they; she's brown-skinned, bisexual, speaks random Spanish from time to time. What are they gonna do if I tell them we, Latinxs, are tired of Gringos believing we do that all the time?

Luz is great, but she's not perfect rep. You need more than to make a character a certain skin color or a certain sexuality to be representation. You need to make research, you need study, you need to take the people you're trying to put under the spotlight (and their feelings) into account.

Take a good look at Avatar Korra. We all know she's bisexual because she's dating a girl, but could you tell she was even attracted to Asami (or girls in general) the same way she was attracted to Mako (or Bolin) (even freaking Tahno!) for the first 3 (let's make it 4 because even when they were together they were at arm's length) seasons of the show?

Attraction is not obvious enough to be censored but it is enough to make things less for forced!

Literally anything would have made Korrasami more believable! A scene were Asami was trying on a new dress, Korra studying her up and down and concluding out loud she looks pretty. Them staring into each other's eyes for 0.2 seconds too long after Korra finishes meditating in the Spirit World. Korra complimenting Asami's hair! Anything!

I can't speak for bisexual people, but for the little I know, it is important for them to portray bisexuality as the attraction to both genders and not just push two same-sex characters together at one point of the story and call it forever love.

Making headcanons about a character's sexuality doesn't make you a hero either, especially when those headcanons are for fetishising m/m or f/f couples. And the people that doesn't "feel that vibe" in some character are not homophobic, they just... really don't feel the vibe in there. (Autonomous, remember? They are not going to perceive things the same way you do.)

And the thing about "it is better because it is gay". Oh, then what? Tyzula is better because it is gay and headcanoned even tho Ty Lee physically cringed at the idea of Azula (her supposed friend) staying at her circus performance and then Azula burning Ty Lee's safety net and then releasing only who knows what animals just to see if they would eat Ty Lee alive?!

If you want to ship Tyzula after Azula's headcanoned redemption arc, then fine! Knock yourself out! But don't act like Ty Lee felt comfortable at all during any of their interactions throughout the show.

Making it gay doesn't make it healthy (Tyzula). Putting on a female lead doesn't make it feminist (Mulan 2020). Making said lead to speak a certain language doesn't make it rep (The Owl House).

And now to one of the really important parts of this: pedophilia.

I once said about how most Gen Z's (a generation to which I belong, in case you're wondering) are trying to pass learned stuff as personality traits. Like that kid that repeats a bad word because an older one said it but they don't know what it means.

We all know pedophilia is something horrible. They have assimilated it.

And in a very harmful way, because there are more victims of pedophilia out there than they think, and we don't like to see that word on random Twitter threads.

Yeah, we. I am one of those victims. (I don't consider myself one but 🤷🏽‍♀️) And you wouldn't want to know what thoughts go through my mind when I see that word as an answer to a beautiful piece of fanart.

Do these kids feel good when they parrot pedophilia like it was nothing? It makes them feel avenging?

Or the whole thing about "adult authors can't write about fictional teens having sex because 'its pedophilia' (yes, the double quotation marks intended) and 'incest because the characters are like their children'".

What then? Would you like it to be a 16-yo writing about her own first experience for her friends, family and just complete strangers to read? Would that make you feel better?

(@firelxdykatara has wrote some really great meta on this topic.)

Or hating on random authors.

Sure, some people are horrible, but what does it make you to be fatphobic, ableist, and just Mean Girl-like on the tl?

Does that make you feel good? Empowered? Mature? Free?

I say this because of something that happened relatively recent in my favorite book fandom, The Shadowhunter Chronicles. I'm not supporting neither Cassandra Clare or the fans on this issue, and I know many of the fans that follow me are rightfully angry as of now. Guys, I love you, and more than that I respect you, but seriously 👏🏽you👏🏽need👏🏽to👏🏽back👏🏽off👏🏽. I don't have the reach to tell Cassie why what she did was wrong, but being fatphobic and anti-semitic is not cute either! Don't support her, hate her all that you want, nobody's gonna stop you, but when you start to retweet stuff just to say how fat she is or how ugly her makeup looks, that's not criticism, that's bullying and a petty one on top of that.

How much better than people like her or J.K. Rowling are you if you go around tweeting like that?

(I know this isn't actually going to have enough reach to get to the people that need to hear it, but I'm very worried that those are the young minds that are going to inherit this planet 😶😶😶.)

[punkscowardschampions]

Gen 4.1 Planning

Libi: Okay, so my basic premise for who Libi is going to be at her core, WOO; I was thinking about how we said that she is Tess' second (lowkey third but I'll let you live gal) chance at 'getting it right' and raising a child well, which, OBVIOUSLY, she's never told or anything but there's an innate pressure in that that you'd know on some level, likewise her mum AND dad died so everyone would be quick with those comparisons always, this family and Liam's mum when that contact is made because her daughter died as well as; Then that made me think of the pressure Ro felt because you know, bad shit happened to Bea (Edie and Liam in this case) and then she got saved by McVickers and felt like she owed everyone to be great and do great things; so my vibe is that BUT COMING FROM A LESS SELFISH, WEIRD, PERFECTIONISM ANGLE soz not soz Ro, we know what you did; I see her being better behaved as she grows up, far more than her parents obviously but lowkey better behaved than any of the mcvickers or cali kids ever were because she thinks everyone deserves that, her not causing any more problems, but again UNLIKE Ro, she wouldn't be different to a degree of not fitting in because she'd make a massive effort to be there for everyone and every event, be likeable and get along with as much of the fam as possible, obviously some of that is natural charm but it's also putting in the time ahem Rosaline; like, she's a people pleaser, to a fault, and all she cares about is making everyone else, Tess, Fearghal, Ali, JJ etc etc, happy and making sure she's being what she thinks they want her to be/need her to be, and like that is what makes her happy because she is doing it out of love and respect not obligation but she doesn't know she's doing it, you know? Again, it's innate, how she is, but that's where the arc can come in, in realising that she goes with what makes everyone else happy, is who they need, but what does SHE want herself, and what does SHE need? A way I thought we could make this a Bobby/Libi storyline if we wanted (but we do not have to) is if she does have feelings for him, could be any point on his timeline gfs and kids wise whatever, but she lets him go and have whatever gf or do whatever thing because she's like that's what he wants he doesn't like me or want me like that etc, because she doesn't let herself want things selfishly or do anything just for herself Bobby: we should totally have them be together as little bubs because they are and it's like a running joke that they are gonna get together/get married like we've lowkey already said but more so but maybe the vibe is he is really shy how he is and lowkey it's like a my sister and me vibe where she does all the talking and socialising for him and like all their friends are joint friends Bobby: not in a creepy Ro and Ali way but Bobby: and we will let you outgrow that sir Libi: it makes sense because obviously we're learning sign language so simply Bobby can't communicate with most kids by himself, that's facts, and it's easier to have another kid help you than Jimmy always being there, or whoever he has helping him at school, you know Bobby: oh snap maybe I flip reverse what I said and Cammie's mum is the deaf one too and the vibe could be that like Libi pushes him to get some deaf friends as they become like tweens/teens so he can communicate himself so he does and does become more outgrowing that way but maybe he lowkey leans too hard into deaf culture for a while there and she feels like pushed out by it because it's something she can't be a part of Libi: ooh yeah, that makes a lot of sense Bobby: it adds something to Cammie's character as well being hearing but having two deaf parents so that's interesting Bobby: and also makes sense why JJ have to help them so much as well as them just being young Libi: right, there's a lot of shit Cammie would have to do from a young age if not for JJ lowkey 'cos it's just easier for a hearing kid than it is a deaf adult in this world Libi: her mum could maybe be more partial for ease but yes Bobby: and like it makes sense that Libi would push her feelings aside when those two grow closer/happen because she'd be like well they're both deaf that's something I can't give him and something I want him to have Libi: exactly, it'd feel really selfish to wreck that even if you didn't have all the ingrained shit she does around it Bobby: and obviously he actually wants to be with her as well but thinks she doesn't want that and before you now it there's baby Cammie so it's like well now I gotta try and make this work because don't wanna be a shit father like I had Libi: oh the drama of it all Libi: love it Libi: and we've not really got (that I can think of) a never mind I'll find someone like you type deal Libi: because usually it's like JUST SAY IT but it actually makes sense here to pine and long but let him go Libi: hence I'm here for it Libi: So, what I'm thinking right now is, that they're like never officially together, like it just keeps being an in-joke kinda vibe and like we're JUST best friends and then kind of like family, but obviously as they get into tween/teen years it's beyond a stage you can pretend you're just a kid playing at being girlfriend and boyfriend and as you said boo, that will coincide with JJ wedding and kids roughly so then it'd be more obvious like it's not going to happen seriously, then she can encourage him to get deaf friends etc, but I feel like he should only meet Cammie's mum just before or at uni (or whatever equivalent he's doing after school) so then it is quick and not like they were even mates before so it's less of a shock for all, you know? Bobby: I totally agree because I strongly pictured him being best man at the JJ wedding (soz Pete) and her being one of the bridesmaids and all the bants that go along with that and them both being SO 😳 Bobby: and yeah he could live the cliché that Jac was mocking and literally get with this girl freshers week I'd believe it Libi: Right? it then mirrors the Jameson/Cammie thing except they literally are just BFFs and there isn't anything going on Libi: there's actually weight to this but we're just like haha no don't be silly Bobby: and we've literally not done that trope with childhood boy girl best friends before really because baze are probably the closest but they were always so clearly in love and refusing to fight it so it's fun Libi: exactly, because unknowingly or otherwise, we're fighting against all the cliches and tropes that come with this family Libi: like I'm going to not do any of those things that caused drama for everyone and this is clearly too close to home, even though I don't think anyone would actually be that bothered, we've just really internalized and gone with it Bobby: like how nobody cares Jac is gay except Jac herself Libi: right Libi: but obviously she's good at keeping this all internal because no one can or is gonna clock it and be like, babe, it's okay Libi: like JJ might be a bit like oop, keeping it in the family but as long as you're both happy they really don't care, and same for mcvickers even if Tess is suspish of everyone that comes into any gal's life 'cos trauma lol Bobby: Bobby wasn't trying to make deaf culture happen for himself but Libi would have been so excited for him to get out there and do it that he would've been excited too and then it is literally like a new world opening up because who has he ever interacted with that's deaf before Bobby: didn't mean to lowkey leave you behind gal but Libi: it's kinda her own fault, not to blame you but clearly literally what we do like okay he's happy now mission accomplished Bobby: and maybe Cammie's mum is like the deaf equivalent of those gays who make it their whole identity so she's really selling it and so he also thinks okay this is who I should be with Libi: we know the vibe, like it's more excusable but still, I get you Libi: I see it Libi: a bit of a baby gay equivalent like go too hard and you're like I need to calm this down Libi: UNRELATED BUT Libi: think it will please you Libi: Jay is born 32 like Bobby, I'm pretty sure, and I thought Libi and her would also make for interesting content because Jay obviously feels she owes a lot to the fam for not being stuck with Chloe etc etc and the very little we did with her gave off a similar energy to me Libi: and she has her commitment issues in relationships because of her mum situation so they can bond over the shit that holds 'em back even though it's different stuff Bobby: and her relationship with Ava being her mum but also not being is something I feel like Libi can relate to because of how she was raised and the Rio and Buster-ness of it all because they wanted to raise her and obvs they wanted to raise Jay for a while there too Bobby: plus all the travelling she does is something that Libi could potentially join her in doing if she needs an escape so that's nice Libi: 100% it makes for a strong friendship there's a lot of parallels if not total similarities Libi: it makes a lot of sense, it's coming together baby Bobby: if you need to get away from seeing Bobby literally playing happy families, I can offer you that gal because I'm gonna have her go to uni/live in new york probably now that Nancy isn't because her face actually did live there idk if they still do or what but Bobby: we know the vibe is that she goes everywhere and can't settle so you'll have lots of chances to run away in a way that won't upset anyone Bobby: and when she gets her man and it works out we could totally coincide that because she can be like if I can do it so can you Libi: a mood a moment Bobby: all I know is Bobby is gonna be more chatty because neither Jimothy or Jesse are so I must but not to Jude levels of !!! Libi: a nice middleground Libi: which is kind of what I see for her honestly Libi: less in your face than 1. we were as a little bub 2. a lot of the fam but still sociable enough that it jives well with most of 'em Bobby: I'm so happy about all of this and honestly Cammie's mum being deaf makes so much sense in terms of what we were already thinking about her being more distant and working a lot Libi: if she doesn't give up the fight, she could be some kind of advocate vibe Libi: 'cos then Cammie can't even call her out really Libi: like soz this is important, maam your child Bobby: exactly what I was thinking we're in sync rn boo Libi: because it all makes sense, you gotta follow one thread and then the story shows itself tbh Libi: because tying in Astrid too, obviously that makes sense because she loses her mum too, and she'd ultimately be a really good influence because after Ro dies Astrid is kind of freed to do whatever she wants for herself Libi: and how much happier it makes her, how much she improves...well Libi: sips tea Bobby: I LOVE THIS Libi: and who else is taking the autistic girl that seriously and letting her teach you things Libi: love that for you Libi: she's living her best life and we can see that Bobby: she can be in their friend group, I'm happy Libi: ALSO, I feel as if she couldn't lie to Astrid Libi: because she says how she sees it bluntly and we're not going to feel comfortable fobbing her off because of that insistence, so that'll be good for you even when we're hiding it from everyone else Libi: everyone else you've just got to be vaguely like oh no no and it's dropped and like okay Bobby: we're gonna get to show so many different sides of Libi, I'm always here for that Bobby: and however far we go down the Astrid and her gf eating disorder rabbit hole, we''ll have Libi not treating her like a kid which is great Libi: yeah, there's loads we can do with the end of gen 4 for them all it's a mood Bobby: okay so what or who would you like to throw Libi at first Libi: that is the question Bobby: just so we know Bobby is going to Trinity and studying Business, Economics and Social Studies (B.E.S.S.) which is business, economics, political science and sociology basically so he can end up working at that advertising place with Jimothy after he has done this 4 years Bobby: Cammie's mum is there doing deaf studies which is also 4 years Libi: do we wanna do a rough timeline for these people mentioned here Libi: Jay born 32, we find out about her when she's 7 in 39 Libi: Bobby is born 32 and comes into the story 38 Libi: Libi is born 34, Edam die 35, we know this situation, is 4 soon to be 5 when she meets Bobby vias JJ Libi: Astrid is born 35 and Ro dies in 44 when Astrid is 9 Libi: JJ can get married 46, so Libi is 12 and Bobby is 14 Libi: doesn't have to be when we intro the deaf friends to the point of exclusion obvs but it's timed so we never have the 'real' relationship chat of it all obvs Libi: so Bobby would go to uni in 50-51 and Camie is born 51 start of 2nd year Libi: that gives us this good 4 year period before uni to play with, then obviously we know the vibe of when she's born and making that work etc Libi: Hmm, I think it would make the most sense to do a gap year then stay local, like that's the ideal Libi: because I really think she'd struggle being away from the fam Libi: but I'm kinda thinking maybe to be cruel she DOES go away because it seems like something the fam are like yay about Libi: 'cos she'd try really, really hard to stay but they should at least notice that and she can transfer for a reprieve Bobby: that's really nice actually Libi: she should do her first year in Liverpool, the rest at Trinity Libi: okay, so film studies, it was only 3 years in Liverpool but we're changing to trinity and you do years 1 and 2 (aka whilst Bobby is still there at least for year 1 but I need to check anyway) there and years 3 and 4 at Columbia uni in new york, aka where Jay is Libi: **remind me to check the times but we need to give him a solid bday and I'm changing hers up too Libi: this is just roughly Libi: but this way we can be cruel with it lol

[thekaijudude]

Okay... let me get this straight. Ultraman Reiga, a combination of ELEVEN Ultramen, in their strongest forms, I might add, is somehow WEAKER than Orb Trinity, one of the components of that fusion? HOW THE HELL DOES THAT WORK? What kind of backwards logic is this?

Hi!

I think u missed out on the majority of what I already had to say about this prior

So firstly, the Taiga Spark fusions stats seems to be even below Fusion Rise

And note that the scan saying Reiga is a fusion of all of the New Gen strongest forms is the exact same scans saying that Reiga is the strongest ultraman ever, literally almost as believable as Toregia's official stats

It's likely just their base forms which I also posted the New Gen Eye review that sounded all their base form grunts only

And Reiga's stats just shows the limit of the Taiga Spark as his stats hit a plateau with 11 components

So u definitely can't compare this with Fusion Up, literally the best Type 2 fusion device with duo fusions even possible to exceed Fusion Rise and the others, with Trinity fusion far surpassing even that

I suspect this is so as the Orb Ring is the original type 2 device that the LoL attempted to replicate with the Taiga Spark and Geed Riser with subsequently the Z Riser

Not to mention that the base ultra we're looking at with Taiga is probably the lowest we've seen due to his young age

So it basically just come down to the effectiveness of the device and of course the stats of the base ultra

Thanks for the question!

[sqbr]

Time for tangential philosophical rambles with Sean:

My boomer, facebook-conspiracy-loving(*) parents are progressive. My mother's leftist ideals formed in contrast to her "Stalin made some valid points" tankie parents. The leftist ideals of me and my siblings (which are all kinda different!) formed in contrast to those of our parents. And over the decades I've watched us, and other similarly aged progressive peers, settle into middle age while new waves of young progressives grow into adulthood.

And if there's one thing I've learned, it's that while we all believe in what I consider to be broadly good and correct ideals, we're all wrong a lot, in a remarkable variety of ways. Every era, subculture, and individual has their own blindspots and biases. Every old, incorrect dogma is replaced by a new, differently incorrect one. I like to think things are overall getting better, but the current generations and their current progressive ideals do not strike me as starkly different from the ones that went before. Later progressives will see us all as well meaning but flawed just like I do my parents and grandparents and those who came before them.

There is no escaping this. There is only accepting it, humbly aware that whatever Perfect Truths you're motivated by right now are partly wrong in one way or another, and that no matter how much you esteem your peers and mentors you can't trust them to be always right either. And the more convinced someone is that they have escaped this, that they have the One True Progressive Vision and can trust their ideals and 'right thinking' peers to steer them correctly without having to think very hard or question anything (or, worse, think it doesn't matter if something is true as long as the politics is right), the more likely they are to end up believing and spreading really egregiously wrong things and going to some very dark places. It's one reason "Boomers are inherently bigoted, millennials/Gen Z are inherently enlightened" attitudes have always struck me as incredibly dangerous.

(*)Not even the same ones! My mother believes islamophobic Zionist conspiracies while my father believes antisemitic brocialist conspiracies, it's...*clenches fist* great. But they both also have a genuine commitment to saving the environment, pushing for refugee rights, etc. And they do those things on Facebook too.

you guys really gotta stop spreading obvious half-truths and saying things with conviction that you don't even fully remember the details of and going "idk if this is true but..." like. you are not better than your boomer grandparents on facebook sharing fake CNN headlines about lead poisoning from cell phones just because the misinfo you're peddling has an ostensibly progressive angle to it. fucking knock it off!!!!